Sins Of Our Fathers: Draft One
by owiak
Summary: Emithel was running and that was all she knew until she fell from her world into another. However all that she ran from has made it's way into this strange new world. Now only a wizard, hobbit and thirteen dwarves can lead her to her destiny and maybe even home. Original draft for Sins of Our Fathers (Kili/OC) Follows movies & books. THIS WILL NOT BE UPDATED BECAUSE IT'S A DRAFT.
1. First Draft: Chapters 1 to 12

**The Original Six Chapters**

_This installment consist of the six chapters I originally posted to the site, these were perhaps the most revised out _

_of everything I wrote on this version of the story because I hated these chapters with a passion._

_Creating a plot is easy but giving it a beginning is hard._

* * *

Running was all she knew how to do, so run is what she did. Her boots hit the ground hard each time, the muscles in her legs were burning, her chest was on fire, but she just kept running. Twigs snapped and broke under her and she dodged the pine trees around her expertly. Tears filled her eyes and she stumbled a few times but she just kept running.

Running was all Emith really knew how to do, those who knew her say she was born to run. There was never a time she hadn't been running. Running for her life, running from her life, running from herself. Now was no different, she was running from everything and she was determined to get away.

She jumped over a log, then another, her pace never slowed. She wasn't sure how long she'd been running but she wasn't ready to stop. The forest smelled of pine but it also stunk with danger, a danger that was coming for her. She weaved in and out of trees, across a small stream, down a slope, no stopping.

Running would have been easier if she hadn't had her quiver and bow across her back, but there was no way she would let it go. Keep running she told herself, keep running, make it across the border and keep running, never stop running.

"You can't run forever!" a voice shouted a distance behind her. She ran even faster, there were others running behind her, running after her.

"Make this easier for yourself and just give up!" another shouted.

"No!" she shouted back, never slowing down. Through the forest they all ran. Suddenly Emith stopped short, balancing herself as she came to a steep drop. She had three choices, run left or run right, which would surly get her caught or jump down into the trees below and climb down.

The others got closer and soon they were surrounding her, so she jumped. She hit a large branch and felt a rib crack. The pain made her lose her grip and she went falling through the branches, getting scratched and cut till she landed on the ground. She cried out.

"Find a way down there now! She can't get far now." one of the voices said from the ledge. Emith forced herself to her feet and began to slowly run, hobble really, while holding her broken rib. She passed through trees and the forest grew oddly silent she stopped for a moment and looked up at the sky. She could barely see through the trees but the sky suddenly grew very gray and rain began to drop lightly.

"Sir there is a storm coming in!" a voice shouted. Emith began to hobble in the opposite direction of it.

"Fall back!" another shouted.

"But the girl!"

"If the forest doesn't kill her first the storm will!" another answered.

Emith kept going, she knew they were right. The forest was highly dangerous and with a storm coming she might not make it through the night. She was determined though, with her broken rib to make it to the morning where she would have to run again from her hunters.

The rain grew heavy and the forest grew dark. Emith began walking now, no point in running when no one was chasing her. She was soaked, her hair stuck to her skin along with her clothes. Mud covered her boots and she was cold. The trees didn't seem to ends, she was praying to come across a cave but one never appeared.

The wind blew hard through the trees making them sway and the sky flashed with lightning and then a large crack and boom. She could barely see where she was going. She heard a deep growl behind her, turning slowly she saw a massive bear staring at her. Panicked she began to run and it ran after her through the rain and trees.

Her chest and ribs were hurting from the strain of running. She tripped and fell into the mud, she turned back to see the large bear charging towards her and scrambled to her feet when there was another flash of lightning and boom of thunder and several branches came tumbling down from the trees landing on the bear. She took this as her opportunity to put distance between them and started running again.

The ground began unstable from all the mud and she kept slipping and catching herself, coordination failed her again though and she tripped over a large log and went tumbling down a slope covered in bushes. During one roll she hit her head on a rock. When she finally came to a stop she breathed heavily and cried in pain.

Her head was spinning and throbbing in pain. She kept telling herself to get up but she couldn't move, the pain from her broken rib had become too much and her pounding head made the forest move from side to side. Slowly she slipped into unconsciousness. Laying on the muddy forest floor in the pouring rain she thought to herself 'finally I can die, I don't have to keep running' and then the world went black.

* * *

"Is she breathing?" a voice asked. Emith felt a head press against her chest.

"Barely, we should help her." another said. Emith tried to open her eyes through half lids she could barely make out the shape of two men in sunlight. It was hard to keep her eyes open though, everything was bright and blurry.

"I think she's coming to." said the first voice.

"Hey miss, you alright?" the second asked. Emith was fighting with her eyes.

"Let's take her back to the others." the second spoke again. She felt herself being lifted into a pair of arms. The words 'take her back' however got though to her more than anything. Her mind started racing, she had been caught, they got her, they were going to make her go back. Emith began to wriggle in the strangers arms.

"I'm not I-I-m- not goin-g back." she said between breaths mumbling.

"Calm darling, we aren't going to hurt you." the first voice said. Emith kept wriggling though, she felt the stranger who had started picking her up set her back down so she was sitting up. He clasped her face in his hands.

"It's alright we won't hurt you. You've been injured we're trying to help you." Emith's vision was still blurry but she could make out his form, which was mostly dark black hair. She felt the first man grab her hand and stroke it gently with his thumb.

"We're here to help, promise." the first voice said, his form was much lighter, blonde hair that looked gold in the sunlight. Emith's eyes rolled back and she fell into unconsciousness.

When she finally came to, she could smell burning wood and hear the crackling of a fire. The sky was dark again, had she really been out for a whole day she asked herself. She heard laughter and sat up slowly. Her head was still swimming.

"Ey, looks like the lass is finally ready to join the rest of the world." a voice said. Emith didn't even bother to look over at who she was with, she stumbled to her feet and began to move away from them.

"Where are you going?" another voice asked. She heard almost a dozen pair of feet moving towards her and she looked them all straight in their eyes. She felt pain from her rib and began hobbling away from them.

"Miss we said we wouldn't hurt you." one said, it was one of the two that had found her. Emith kept going. She was moving slowly, sore, in pain, feeling sick. She fell to her knees. Several feet caught up quickly to her. She felt a hand grab her arm to help her stand.

Once she was on her feet she took a swing at the owner of the hand, the dark-haired man who carried her earlier. He dodged it skillfully and she threw another punch which he also dodge. Another swing but this time he grabbed her wrist and twisted it bringing it behind her back, turning her around so her back was to his chest and sending her back down to her knees.

Emith grabbed the collar of his shirt with her free hand and pulled him over her head, flipping him on his back. With her other arm now free of his grasp she pulled a knife from her boot and brought it flying down towards his chest. The man squeezed his eyes shut and braced for impact but Emith suddenly stopped herself.

She looked up and saw twelve hairy bearded men ranging in size from about four-foot five inches to five foot two inches ready with axes and swords in hand. These were not the men who had chased her. The dark-haired man she held at knife point opened his eyes and looked around.

"I'd very much appreciate not having a knife pointed an inch from my heart." he said. Emith pulled back her knife and moved away. The blonde man who had been with him when they found her pulled the other to his feet.

"Who are you people?" Emith asked.

"The question is who are you and what where you doing passed out in the middle of a forest." one of the men asked, he had a long white beard. Emith hesitated to answer, she didn't know these men, they could be in league with the men who had hunted her.

"My name is Emithel." she said, "I'd best be on my way." she rose to her feet and looked out the corner of her eyes for her bow and quiver.

"You aren't going anywhere until you give us answers." a deep voice said. Emith looked at him, he was about five foot with thick black hair and beard.

"I don't have to give you anything." she replied. The man stepped towards her.

"You're being hunted. By who might I ask." he said sternly.

"I am not being hunted." she said carefully.

"You're covered in scars, injured and starving but you refuse our help. Those are telltale signs you're being hunted, I want to know why." he demanded. Everyone stood quietly waiting for an answer from her. She looked directly into the mans eyes.

"I almost killed a man." she said simply.

* * *

"You're making a mistake." Emith fussed as her hands were tied behind her back.

"He is bad man." she added. The bearded men tied her legs together as well.

"Are you serious? Alastrine murdered millions of people and I am the monster?" she argued.

"Who is this person you speak of?" a tall man with long white hair and a long white beard asked. He was much taller than the rest of the men.

"Alastrine," she said with a confused face but all the men stared blankly at her.

"You mean to tell me you've never heard of Alastrine? He rules everything in this land from Wes Moore to the ice drifts of Scot." she said as if it was common knowledge, which to her it was.

"This land is not ruled by one man and these places you speak of do not exist." the old man said.

"They do exist. I was born in Scot, I've run through the fields of Wes Moore and I have stared Alastrine in his cold hate filled eyes. You cannot tell me it is not true, I know it is!" she cried out frustrated.

"Calm down child, this place where you are from, what is it called?" the old man asked kindly. The other men sat quietly behind him.

"I am from the country of Scot, north of the countries of Tattersall, Wes Moore, Rowling and Unterlands." she said plainly.

"Child I have lived for many years and no such places exist in this world." he said sadly to her. Emith sat utterly confused, she stared at the old man, her home couldn't just disappear, if she wasn't in Scot where was she.

"What is this place?" she said cautiously looking the old man in the eyes.

"You are in Middle-Earth." he responded softly. Panic filled her body, her jaw dropped and she suddenly found it very hard to breathe, tears stung her eyes.

"I must be dreaming." she mumbled to herself. "I must of hit my head harder than I thought, I must be dreaming, I must be dreaming." she repeated to herself.

"The girls gone mad." one of the shorter men said.

"Or she is lying to save her own skin." said the one who had been harsh to her before. Emith looked up at them all and burst into tears, she sobbed harder than she ever had before in her entire life.

"I do not believe she is lying Thorin." said the old man. "She is speaking the truth. It seems she has fallen through a door between our reality and hers." the old man added.

"There are other worlds besides our own Gandalf?" one of the men asked. The old man nodded.

"Oh yes, I had the misfortune of falling through one of these doors many years ago, ended up in a place called New York, the folks thought I was man named Ian McKellen." Gandalf told them. Emith looked lost.

"You mean to tell me I fell through an invisible door from my world to yours?" she asked him.

"Basically." he said.

"There is no Tattersall or fields of Wes Moore, no ice drifts of Scot, no Alastrine?" she added.

"Not at all." Gandalf said with a smile.

"She still tried to murder a man. We should send her back to her world to pay for her crime." Thorin said. Emith shook her head.

"No, no you can't do that to me. They'll kill me if I go back." she said.

"And how is that any concern of mine?" Thorin said sharply back.

"They took my home from me." Emith said softly, the tears returning to her eyes.

"They took everything. Alastrine, he is a cruel man. He murdered his father and brother for the throne. He marched across the borders of his country, Tattersall into Scot and Wes Moore and he burned everything, everyone. He sat upon his throne and ordered children to be burned in their homes. Children, hundreds of innocent children. The men were taken to fight in his army and the women sent to work in the mines. All that hell fire, all that smoke and the smell of burning flesh. No one would stand up to him, everyone who did burned. But I do not burn, a fire lives inside me and I am immune to the flames and tyranny of savage kings. Yes, I tried to killed him, I sent an arrow through his left eye and while I might not have killed him and my people still have a long way to go… I have brought the light of liberation down on to them and they shall be free." Emith said fiercely at him. All the men stared her, some with a look of sadness, others with a look of pride.

"But I can't go back, I will die and all I have ever wanted was to just be free." she said holding up her rope bound hands to Thorin. They stared intensely into each others eyes for a moment. He grabbed her hands and cut the rope in an angry violent way.

He didn't want to let her free but he knew the wrath of fire and losing your only home, he knew the pain of watching his people suffer and he knew this girl before him only cause him and his company trouble if he kept her around.

"You stay tonight," he said. "You can leave after first light."

* * *

Emith opened her eyes, the forest was quite with the exception of the snores coming from the tiny men around her. She had come to learn they were in fact Dwarves on a pilgrimage with a Hobbit and a Wizard. All the terms were new to her, but she assumed they were all different races. In her world there was only one race, men. There had been stories of magic makers, witches and wizards in her world but that was nonsense and punishable by death in some countries. Tattersall had mass burnings back in the fifth age to rid the land of possible magic.

She sat up quietly, dawn was approaching. She got to her feet, her rib still hurt a bit but the wizard, Gandalf, had been kind enough to cast a spell that would speed up the healing process. She was quite surprised with herself at how fast she had learned the name of all fifteen men.

There was Gandalf the wizard, Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit and then the thirteen Dwarves. There was Thorin, who set her free, Balin, Dwalin, who were brothers, Dori, Nori and Ori, also brothers. Bifur, who could only speak the Dwarvish language and his cousins Bofur and Bombur. Gloin and Oin, another pair of brothers and then Fili and Kili, the brothers who had found her passed out in the woods.

She slowly pulled her bow and quiver over her shoulder and began to tip toe over and around the sleeping men. They had said she could leave but she didn't want to wake any of them if they had changed their minds, also it was very rude to wake up a sleeping person. Past Bombur and Bofur and Gloin and Oin she went.

Once she was clear of stepping on anyone she took a look back at them all sleeping, one, two, three, she counted in her head. Nine, ten… twelve, thirteen… fourteen… one was missing. She panicked and was ready to run, she swiftly turned around and felt a hand cover her mouth.

"Shhhhh…." it was Kili, the youngest of Dwarves.

"Don't worry, I'm not stopping you from leaving." he said moving his hand away from her mouth and reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a piece of round bread and block of cheese and placed it in her hand.

"Figured you might get hungry on your journey." he said with a smile.

"Oh… umm, thank you." she said, moving past him and into to particular direction.

"If you don't mind me asking, where is it you plan on going?" Kili asked. Emith turned around back to him.

"I'm not entirely sure." she said.

"These lands can be dangerous for those who don't know them. I suggest East, there is a town called Bree, perhaps you could find a home there. If you go a bit farther you'll end up in the Shire; beautiful place, grassy hills and flowing streams. Perfect for hiding." he said. Emith stared intently at him.

"Thank you." she said with a small smile and turned to continue to walk. She stopped shortly and turned back to Kili.

"Which way is East?" she asked. He pointed left and chuckled. She gave him another smile and was on her way.

She had walked for a while in the direction Kili sent found it odd how tall he actually was, him and his brother Fili were both an inch taller than her, but they were Dwarves. She was rather short in comparison to the people in her world. They stood at five foot five inches or taller. She was only five foot one inch.

The dwarf Thorin was the third tallest, he stood at five feet. The rest of the Dwarves looked as if they would never reach that height and the Hobbit as well. She passed through trees and bushes, it felt great to not have to run. She was always running and now she no longer had to. The sun began to rise over the trees.

Emith took a short break, she said on a fallen over tree and took out the bread and cheese that Kili had given her. She took a bite of both at the same time, it tasted like how heaven would feel. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten anything. Back home bread and cheese were a luxury and eaten very rarely.

Emith devoured them both and was a bit sad when she realized she'd eaten her only food. She pulled her bow out and moved silently through the woods. She could always shoot an animal she came across and eat it. After a few minutes she spotted a rabbit, she aimed an arrow at it and waited. There was a snap in twigs and the rabbit went running off.

Emith looked down at her feet. She was perched on a log, so what made the twigs snap? Suddenly through the trees a knife came flying at her, she jumped off the log and dodged it. She looked up and saw a man in the trees. The hunters, they had followed her. She took off running.

She heard the sound of several knives hitting trees behind her as she weaved in and out of the trees. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and strung it into her bow, she stopped quickly turned back and let go. The arrow went flying through the trees. A man came falling out of the trees, arrow through his chest.

"Peck!" a voice shouted as it dropped out of the trees after him. Several others dropped down as well.

"He's dead." one of the men said. They all looked over at Emith.

"Get her and end this." another said. The all came charging after her and she took off running. Running is easy when you know where you are going, but she wasn't in her own world. She had landed in another and where ever she was running to she hoped there would be safety.

* * *

Emith hid silently behind a tree. She couldn't believe where her life had taken her. A week ago she had attempted to kill the man who enslaved her people, three days ago she was being hunted by a band of bounty hunting brothers, two days ago while running for the border of Rowling she fell through a door into another world and today she was running again because the brothers had made it through with her. She had killed one but there were still four more after her.

She slowed down her breathing to listen to the forest. It was quite, she had lost them. She peeked out behind the tree and was immediately punched in the face. She fell on her back. A man stepped over her.

"Emithel, long time no see." he said.

"Hello Addams." she said back, she could feel the blood dripping from her nose.

"It is such a shame I have to kill you. You're not that bad-looking, yeah you might be a little short but, I have a soft spot for curls and red-heads." he said as he dropped down to his knees and sat on her waist.

"You're scum." she spat at him. He pinned her arms above her head. He smiled wickedly.

"I am going to enjoy gutting you." he said pulling a knife out and holding it to her neck. He pressed it hard against her neck, she squeezed her eyes shut as her skin began to break. She suddenly heard a thud and felt Addams fall against her heavily. She opened her eyes to see an axe sticking out of his head. Her heart dropped and she squirmed underneath to push him off, she rolled on her side and looked up to see the company of Dwarves, a wizard and hobbit standing not to far from her.

"Oh thank goodness." she said breathless, however the moment she stood she felt a pinch around her ankle and suddenly she was being slammed to the ground and being pulling by her foot across the forest floor. The men were suddenly all off running after her. Bofur ran and slammed his stomach against the ground but managed to grab her hands, all he really did was get himself dragged along the ground with her.

"How on Earth do you stop this thing!" he shouted at her.

"I don't know!" she cried. They flew across the ground with the others running wildly behind them.

"Cut the rope!" Thorin shouted. Bofur let one of her hands go and pulled a knife from inside his hat.

"I'm going to have to climb over you lass." he said through a face full of leaves.

"Please don't let me go." she cried. They were being dragged over yards of forest floor, twigs and rocks scrapping at their arms.

"I won't, I've got an iron grip." Bofur said and at that moment his knife went flying out of his hand and towards Bilbo who jumped over it. Bofur smiled at her and then they hit a bump, his hand slipped out of hers and Bofur went crashing into Bilbo.

Fili ran faster and jumped just in time to grab her hands. Now he and Emith were getting dragged through the forest together. He held tightly to her hands shifting his weight so pull himself into a sitting position and pulled Emith into his lap. She held tightly to him knowing if either of them let go he's go flying like Bofur did.

He leaned forward to reach the ankle that had been snagged by rope. The extra weight of him and Bofur holding on had caused it to dig into her skin causing it to bleed. He pulled out his knife and began cutting at the rope. Emith could still see the others running behind them.

This wasn't her first time caught in this kind of trap. Several years ago she got her foot snagged in one and got dragged for two miles across the ice by a farmer who thought he'd caught a seal. It was a nasty trap, the mechanism used for it was small but powerful and the rope used was incredibly long and durable, nearly impossible to cut. Fili kept hacking away at it though.

"You need to untie." she told him. "It can't be cut by anything." Fili looked at her like she was crazy but tossed the knife behind him and began working at the knot. Bilbo once again jumped over it as it flew by.

"Could you please stop losing your cutlery!" he shouted as he ran.

"Hold on." Fili told her and he pulled the rope from her legging sending them into a sideways roll. One moment she was on his lap and the next she was being squished between him and the ground, then she was rolling over him and back between him and the ground. They stopped rolling and she lay her head down on the ground. Fili lay on top her smiling underneath his blonde beard and mustache braids.

"Could you please get off me." she breathed heavily.

"Oh sorry." he said standing up. The others finally caught up to them.

"Are you okay?" Gandalf asked.

"I think they pulled my ankle out-of-place." she said as Bifur and Bombur helped her to her feet. Thorin pushed past the others towards her.

"Who were those men?" he shouted at her.

"The Howls brothers, they're the men sent to kill me." she said.

"They've made it through the doorway aswell?" Thorin asked.

"I wouldn't have just been dragged through the forest if they were still in my world." she said sharply.

* * *

"You can't just send her off on her own again." Gandalf said.

"I can and I will." Thorin replied.

"She has been persecuted all her life and now she's stumbled into a world were she can be free, yet danger has followed her here to Middle-Earth. You cannot send her to her death!" Gandalf shouted.

"She is not my problem. She has already delayed us enough!" Thorin shouted back. Emith sat quietly around the fire the dwarves had built. After being dragged through the forest Gandalf, Bilbo and several of the Dwarves thought it would be best if she came with them on their journey. Thorin however was not happy with this.

"She is a child and a burden on this company. I will not sacrifice my home for a nobody." Thorin said. Emith kept her eyes down, she could feel the others staring at her.

"At least take her to the Elves, she'll be safer with them than wandering about." Gandalf said. The two men were in a heated argument.

"I will not go to the Elves." Thorin said.

"There is a child in danger!" Gandalf shouted.

"I don't need anyones help! It obvious he does not want me here, I'll leave." Emith shouted at them both.

"And I am not a child. I never was a child, I didn't have that privilege. I can take care of myself." she added.

"No offense sweetheart but these past two days haven't been very kind in proving to us that you can manage on your own." Dwalin said and a few of the others nodded their heads in agreement.

"I'll be fine." she insisted standing up quickly and stumbling forward. Fili and Kili both caught her.

"Not with that ankle you won't." Balin said. It was true, her right ankle had been badly injured by the rope that dragged her through the forest earlier.

"Let the girl stay Thorin, just until she's better." Gandalf insisted. Thorin's nostrils flared in anger.

"Fine but then she leaves." he said as he walked away from them. The rest of the company smiled.

"We all better be resting up. Early start tomorrow." Balin said.

"Bifur take the first watch." Thorin said. Bifur responded in the Dwarvish language. All the men unrolled mats from their bags and began to lay down.

"Here, I always keep a spare." Ori said pulling another mat from out his bag and laying it out for her.

"Thank you." she said. The moment Ori set the mat down, Kili had pushed him out the way and placed his mat next to hers. Emith looked away to avoid his grin only to find that Fili had claimed the spot on the other side of her.

"Hello darling." he said with a grin. Emith looked up and turned pink. She had never been given this much attention before.

"Fili. Kili. Stop it or she'll be running back home before you know it." Gloin said as he pulled his blanket over him. Emith lay down on her mat between the young dwarves.

"Here you go Emith." Ori said stepping on and over Fili. He handed her a blanket and then kicked Fili as he went back to his own mat. Emith laid awkwardly between them both, she was usually a side sleeper but both brothers were facing her and she could feel their eyes watching her so she stayed on her back and pulled the blanket over her head.


	2. First Draft: Chapters 7 to 13

**Part Two of Original Installments**

_This post contains chapters 7 to 13 of the original version of Sins of Our Fathers. For me they were the most fun to write_

_because I had gotten my first few reviews and was naive to think this was good quality work (which I now _

_cry about because I realize it was all actually crap). _

* * *

"Alright everybody." Balin said walking around and kicking the others. Emith stretched as Bofur held on to her shirt. Her ankle was still bad and every time she did anything she'd fall over, so it was all he could do to make sure she didn't end up face first on the ground. Fili and Kili had fought over who would carry her things when Ori picked them up and said he would since he had given them to her.

Everyone packed up their things and began mounting their horses. Well only four of them actually rode horses, Gandalf, Thorin, Fili and Kili. The rest had been small enough to ride ponies. Emith stared uneasily at the animals. She had never seen one before which meant she'd never ridden one before, there wasn't even one for her.

"Up you go." Oin said grabbing her by the waist putting her behind Kili on his horse.

"No, no, no. I'll walk." she said terrified as Kili brought her legs to rest on either side of the horse and Oin scooted her closer to Kili so she wouldn't fall off.

"Ha ha ha!" Oin laughed. "Sure you will." he said patting her right ankle and then climbing on his pony. The company began to move and she clung desperately to Kili.

"Have you never ridden a horse before?" Bilbo asked seeing that she was terrified.

"Uhhh, no I haven't." she said burying her face into Kili's back. The others laughed at her. The company rode on for a few hours, singing and laughing, telling stories along the way. Emith had finally become comfortable on the horse, she sat up straight and loosened her grip on Kili. He looked back at her and smiled.

She couldn't help but notice how young he was, he didn't have a full beard like the rest of the dwarves, his face was covered in scruff and he had long black hair. Like her, he was an archer, although his bow was much nicer than hers and he had the softest brown eyes she's ever seen. The were almost the colour of old whiskey that had matured in an oak barrel.

"Like what you see?" he asked her, she had only just realized she was staring at him and turned her face away from his blushing slightly. Kili only laughed. After traveling a while longer they came to a stop.

"We make camp here tonight." Thorin said. Fili came up beside his brothers horse and pulled Emith off by the waist.

"Tomorrow you ride with me." he said bringing his face very close to hers. Emith turned bright red. Fili was also very young, his hair was blonde and his eyes were an icy blue like the waters she lived near as a child, they were painfully beautiful. The hair on his mustache was in two braids with a bead at the end of each. He was very handsome. Kili unmounted his horse and pushed Fili away from her.

"She likes riding with me and why would she want to ride with someone whose named his horse Minty?" Kili said staring with a grin at Emith.

"You named your horse Bungle." Fili said and at that moment Bofur cut in.

"Okay lads, let the girl breath." he said helping Emith escape the two brothers.

"Competitive those two are." Bofur said sitting her down against a rock, she just nodded and Ori sat down next to her. Nori had gotten a fire going and all the men sat around it while Bilbo began preparing a stew.

"So what was your home like?" Ori asked innocently. Emith looked at him sitting next to her in a knitted sweater.

"It was cold." she said.

"My village was in the far north of Scot, the country which I am from. It was a small village on a floating block of ice kept in place only by the Kelli's bridge." she added. Ori looked at her in amazement.

"I bet it snowed a lot. Don't you want to go back and see it?" Ori asked again. Emith looked down.

"It isn't there anymore." she said.

"What happened to it?" Bombur asked.

"When Alastrine invaded Scot he rounded up all the people of my village and brought them to his kingdom and then he burned it all down along with anyone who refused to leave and destroyed the bridge, the village just floated off into the Attica sea." she said placing her head on her knees.

"Your king," Thorin started.

"He is not my king, I will not bow to a man who kills for power." she said sharply.

"And what do your parents think of you trying to kill him all alone?" Bilbo asked. Emith buried her head farther in her knees. Ori placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"Well who wants stew!" Bilbo said suddenly to move the conversation in a lighter direction. Many of them gave a "yes", along with an "is it ready yet" and a growl from Bombur's stomach. Balin came up beside her and shooed Ori away.

"We've all lost family here." he whispered to her.

"You didn't have to watched them burn." she said with her face still to her knees and tears streaming from her eyes.

"Oh we did, in dragon's fire we lost our kingdom under the Lonely Mountain." Balin said rubbing his hand on her back to soothe her.

"You still had each other. I was eight, I had only my aunt and they took her away to the mines." She said looking up at Balin.

"Yes but now you have us, we have all seen fire and together we shall see it no more. Thorin might come off like he wants you gone but he'd never abandon someone without a home. You're going to end up staying with us longer than you like." he said laughed lightly as Bofur came up to them with bowls of stew.

"I hope you like lamb." he said handing her a bowl. Balin grabbed his a went back to his original spot. Ori took back his spot on her right and Bofur was just about to sit on her left when he felt a foot kick his behind. Bofur turned around to see Kili had claimed the spot on Emith's right and Fili was next to him with an angry face. Kili just gave a smile.

"I've got the right mind to knock the stupidity out you two." Bofur said as he moved passed them to sit next to Bifur.

"I'm sorry if upset you by asking about your home." Ori said sweetly as he took a bite of his stew.

"It's okay." she said softly. "I guess that is all behind me now."

"If she did want to go back to her world could she Gandalf?" Dori asked.

"Why yes of course." Gandalf said. "She just needs to find another door." he said simply.

"I like it here." Emith said. "It is quite." she added. Just then they heard a howl and strange sounds far, far, in the distance.

"What was that?" Bilbo asked looking concerned.

"Sounded like an Orc pack." Kili said.

"A what pack?" Emith asked shooting a worried look at Kili.

"Disgusting creatures. They usually attack at night while everyone is sleeping but the never leave a trace." Fili told her.

"Except the blood, lots of blood." Kili added with a disgusted face. Emith and Bilbo gave each other horrified looks. Fili and Kili cracked smiles at each other.

"Stop scaring them." Dwalin said roughly at Fili and Kili.

"You think a night raid by Orcs is funny?" Thorin asked them.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean anything by it." Kili said looking down.

"You two know nothing of the world." Thorin said walking away from the group.

"We were just joking around." Fili said.

"Don't mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate Orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria... but our enemy had got there first. Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs, led by the most vile of all their race, Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the King. Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed; we did not know. We were leaderless, defeat and death were upon us. That is when I saw him; the young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe, his armour rent, wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield... Azog the Defiler learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces rallied and drove the Orcs back; our enemy had been defeated... but there was no feast or songs that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived and I thought to myself then 'There is one I could follow. There is one I could call King'." Balin said.

* * *

Emith awoke early in the morning much to her distaste. Fili and Kili both insisted on sleeping next to her again and she spent another night laying on her back to avoid eye contact with them. Now however she found herself in a very awkward position as both young men had fallen asleep with their arms thrown over her, leaving her unable to move. Bifur looked down on her and spoke something in Dwarvish.

"Help me." she whispered. Bifur just laughed and walked away.

"Alright you two I am sick of it already." Oin shouted kicking both of them. Fili and Kili both awoke with grumbles and grunts, rolling themselves to their feet. Oin held out a hand to Emith which she gladly accepted. She stood so the pressure was mainly on her right foot as the left was still in bad shape. Fili rubbed his blue eyes and sat on a rock.

"Let me see it." he said waving her over. Emith limped her way over to him. He grabbed her right leg and placed her foot on his knee which nearly caused her to fall over but Bombur managed to catch her and held her upright while Fili pulled off her boot and the bandage around her ankle. He took a good look at it.

"Nori you got anymore of that stuff?" he asked and Nori reached into his pack tossing over a small tin. Fili scooped the creamy substance into his hand.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Don't worry it will make the scar heal faster, you're ankle have to heal on its own." Fili said reassuringly as he rubbed the cream over the cut on her ankle but she flinched as it stung her leg.

"That bloody stings." she said pulling from his grasp only Bombur's sturdy body kept her from going anywhere.

"It's supposed to, that's how you know it is working." Fili said wrapping it a new bandage and putting her boot back on. Bifur again said something she couldn't understand.

"Bifur is right you should really let it breathe." Bofur said to Fili.

"Right then." Fili pulled her boot off again, tossed it into her hands and stood up to pack his things, leaving Emith hopping on one foot while holding onto Bombur. Ori appeared in front of her to hand her back her bow and quiver which she laid beside her last night. She slung them over her shoulder.

"Dori had an extra bag and said you could have it. I've packed your things for you aswell." he said sweetly.

"Thank you Ori." she said taking the bag from him just then Kili appeared and snatched the bag and tossed her over his shoulder.

"Time to go." he said.

"Put me down!" she shouted. Kili tossed her up on his horse and climbed up in front her.

"I don't appreciate you handling me like a rag doll." she said punching his shoulder.

"Hey it was my turn today." Fili said with a disappointed face.

"To slow brother." Kili said as they started to ride off.

Emith had started to become very annoyed by Fili and Kili's attention. It wasn't like the attention Ori or Bofur gave her, they were sweet and did things to help her. Fili and Kili however were outright ogling over her and it made her very uncomfortable, especially since she had to ride with Kili. Riding was the part she liked least. It was just hours of slow-paced strolling and testosterone filled stories and holding on to Kili's waist so she didn't fall. Emith sighed and pressed her forehead against Kili's back, she was bored.

"You can tell us a story of your world." Kili said sensing her boredom.

"There are no good stories." Emith said.

"Perhaps one before the war." Ori suggested. Emith sat with her forehead pressed against Kili's back.

"There was the time my parents took me to Wes Moore. It was a country southwest of ours, we had to take a boat. It was so green, fields of yellow flowers and it always smelt like honey and it was warm. It always snowed in Scot, that trip was the first time I ever saw grass." she said reminiscing.

"Sounds lovely." Ori said with a smile as he rode along side her.

"Yes, lovely. Tell me more of this 'King'." Dwalin asked. Emith looked ahead to where he rode. He looked back at her.

"Why did he invade Scot and Wes Moore?" Dwalin pushed.

"Scot and Wes Moore are not ruled by a king, but a committee of men selected by the people. Alastrine thought it was nonsense, his country, Tattersall has been ruled by kings since the first age. Wes Moore is rich in gold and diamonds, which is why he wanted it." she said.

"So why did he want Scot?" Kili asked turning his head back to look at her.

"Scot has no value to him, it was all snow and ice. He took it just to have it." she said looking Kili in his brown eyes.

"We've lost our home too." Thorin said. Everyone looked ahead to see him but he kept his face forward at the road ahead.

"My ancestors built the Kingdom of Erebor in the Lonely Mountain, it fell to the Dragon Smaug over sixty years ago. Many do not believe it wise to go near it anymore." Thorin continued.

"I however will not leave my people without a home, I plan on taking Erebor back." he added. The company grew silent.

"Is that why you are on this journey?" Emith asked.

"Are you on your way to the Lonely Mountain?" she asked again.

"Indeed." Gandalf said.

* * *

Night was once again falling and the company came to a stop at an old farm that was abandoned. Kili helped Emith off the horse and hop to a decent place to sit. Dori was getting a fire ready.

"A farmer and his family used to live here." Gandalf said.

"We should move on." he added.

"No we stay here for the night." Thorin said sternly.

"I do not think that would be wise." Gandalf said.

"We stay here and rest for the night." Thorin demanded.

"You dwarfs are so stubborn." Gandalf said marching off.

"Where are you going?" Bilbo asked.

"To be in the company of the only person who makes sense around here." Gandalf fumed.

"And who is that?" Bilbo asked again.

"Myself!" Gandalf shouted as he disappeared in the trees.

"Fili, Kili watch the ponies." Thorin said as they were just about ready to push each other out-of-the-way to sit next to Emith. They both grumbled and went off.

"Thank goodness." she sighed. Gloin laughed.

"Giving you trouble are they?" he asked. She nodded her head.

"My boy is well-behaved, I taught him to be so." Gloin said handing her a picture frame. There were two drawings of very hairy people in it.

"Who is this?" Emith asked pointing to the one on the left.

"That beauty is my wife." Gloin said.

"And that there is my lad Gimli." he added. Emith looked intensely at the drawing of Gloin's wife. She had a beard and his son looked like a hair ox! Emith smiled and handed the frame back to Gloin.

"Dwarf women are just as hairy as us men, many can't tell the difference." Bombur whispered to her. Emith looked at him wide-eyed and he just giggled.

"Here take this to the lads." Bofur said handing Bilbo two bowls of stew. Bombur went to refill his bowl which he had just gotten.

"Stop it, you've had enough." Bofur said smacking his hand away and handing Emith her bowl. Everyone ate and talked, Gloin shared stories about his son. At one point Fili and Kili had run back saying that they "may" have gotten them into a small predicament. They were supposed to be watching the ponies but several had been snatched up by trolls and so had Bilbo. Everyone grabbed their weapons and charged off. Thorin gave Emith strict instructions not to move since she was still injured.

Emith was very displeased with it. She sat by the fire alone waiting for them to return. At one point she heard the dwarves all screaming that they didn't have parasites and then several seconds later she could have sworn in the distance she heard Kili shouting that "he had the biggest parasites, huge parasites even". Emith was worried but she couldn't move with her ankle messed up the way it was.

She heard twigs snap in the distance. Was it a troll she thought. An arrow came flying past her head and into the tree behind her, she dropped to the floor and reached for her bow and arrows, she fired a shot into the trees. Behind her more twigs snapped. She could barely see anything past what the fire illuminated. She got to her knees and listened carefully.

Two knives came at her and she fell to her stomach to avoid them and shot another arrow. Behind her another arrow came flying at her and she rolled over barely dodging it. To her left she heard footsteps running towards her, she clambered to her feet and was ready to run when the owner of the footsteps grabbed her curly hair and yanked her back down to the ground. Emith kicked fiercely and was ready to scream when a hand covered her mouth.

"We don't want you shouting out to your friends now do we?" a voice said. In the light of the fire she could just make out a face. It was one of the Howls brothers. Emith flung a few punches at him but another pair of hands grabbed them.

"Now, now miss. Stop fussing. The quicker you give up the faster when can kill you." said the other.

"Hew, Howe, stop screwing around." said a third voice. From above her another face appeared.

"Sorry Wells." said Hew.

"Emithel. It is time you paid for your crime." Wells said pulling out his knife.

"I can't promise this won't hurt." he said. Emith stomped her left boot on the ground and out from the front came a blade. She lunged her foot up into Wells' thigh. He shouted out in pain. She bit the hand Hew had covered her mouth with and head butted Howe the moment the other let go. She grabbed an arrow and strung into her bow and fired at Hew, striking him in the leg. Day was starting to break.

Emith grabbed another arrow but Howe tackled her down to the ground before she could string it, she kicked again with the blade in her boot but Howe managed to pull off the boot and toss it to the side. She struggled with him on the ground, both throwing punches and grabbing at each others neck in attempt to strangle each other. Emith placed her left foot against Howe's chest in attempt to kick him off but instead she felt the bones in her ankle snap back into their proper place and she cried out in pain.

The sun was beginning to rise over the trees. Emith continued to struggle with Howe out the corner of her eye she could see Wells tending to Hew's leg. Howe gripped her neck tightly, she couldn't breathe, she struggled underneath him.

"Emithel!" she heard her name being called in the distance. The company was on their way back and they knew she was in trouble. Emith couldn't wait for them and she reached across the ground and grabbed a rock smashing it into Howe's head, he toppled over. She could breathe again. Wells grabbed Hew and began to run off into the trees. Emith grabbed her bow and strung an arrow, as she did the company came running from out the trees.

She took aim and sent an arrow flying at Hew, it struck him directly in the back and he went down. Wells looked back at her and then company. Abandoning his brothers he took off running into the trees. Howe shifted beside her. She got up and stood over him, stringing another arrow. He looked up at her.

"Please," he begged. "I don't want to die." he cried.

"Neither do I." she said aiming the arrow and letting go through his heart.

* * *

The entire company stared silently at Emith while Gandalf checked on her ankle.

"You all act as if you've never seen a woman defend herself." Emith said sharply.

"You killed two men." Bilbo said looking down.

"I killed several men and only cause they would have killed me first." she said defensively. Bilbo held his hand over his mouth.

"These are two parts of the Howls brothers then? The men who followed you here." Balin asked.

"Yes, that one is Howe and that one Hew." she said pointing over to their bodies.

"You guys put in axe in Addams head a few days back and moments before I took down Peck." she added.

"How many are left?" asked Thorin.

"Just the older brother, Wells." she said.

"I assume that's the one who took off." Oin said, she nodded. Gandalf wrapped the cut on her ankle back up in the bandage.

"It seems you've snapped your ankle back the right way in your skirmish. Should be perfectly fine to walk on now but the scar still needs time to heal." he said. Emith slid her boots back on and stood.

"We should get moving." Thorin said.

"Those trolls couldn't have moved in daylight. There must be a cave nearby." Gandalf said to him. Thorin nodded, everyone grabbed their things and lead their horses and ponies by the reins through the trees.

"I think I found it!" Fili shouted from atop a large rock. One by one they all climbed into the cave. It was filled with gold, goblets and jewels. Several of the dwarves began digging a hole while others stuffed a small chest with as many items as they could. Emith and Dwalin looked curiously at them

"We're making a long-term investment." Bofur said as they tossed the chest into the hole and began covering it up. Thorin and Gandalf were off in the corner looking over swords.

"Hey Emith look." Kili said. She turned around to see Kili holding up a beautiful bow and Fili holding up a sword. She walked over to them.

"For you." Kili said pulling her old bow from her and handing her the one he had found.

"This should come in handy as well." Fili said holding out the sword. Emith was distracted by the bow however. She held the bow tightly in her hand, it was made of red wood and embellished with gold lettering of a language she couldn't read. All along the wood were carvings of leaves and vines. Fascinated by it she walked away from them.

"I think she likes it." Kili smiled. Fili still stood with the sword in his hand and shot his brother a look.

"Lets get moving." Thorin said to them as he left the cave. Emith walked still staring at the bow and bumped into Bilbo who was carrying a small-sword.

"It's nice." she said to him.

"Gandalf made me take it, although I don't think I am courageous as the rest of you to actually use it." Bilbo said lowly.

"True courage is not taking a life, Bilbo, but knowing when to spare one. I am a coward so I kill to save my own skin. Courage would have been accepting death, talking it out or simply walking away." she said to him as she stepped out of the cave.

"The Greenwood is sick, Gandalf. A darkness has fallen over it. Nothing grows anymore, at least nothing good. The air is fouled decay, but worst are the webs." a strange man said when she rejoined the others.

"Webs? What do you mean?" Gandalf asked him

"Spiders, Gandalf. Giant ones. Some kind of spawn of Ungoliant or I'm not a wizard. I followed their trail, they came from... Dol Guldur." the man said ominously.

"Dol Guldur? But the old fortress is abandoned." Gandalf exclaimed.

"No, Gandalf, 'tis not. A dark power dwells in there. Such as I have never felt before. It is the shadow of an ancient horror. One that can summon the spirits of the dead. I saw him, Gandalf, from out of the darkness. A Necromancer has come!" he shouted, everyone stared at the man.

"Calm down Radagast." Gandalf said. "Are you sure it is a Necromancer?" he asked. Radagast handed Gandalf a long parcel.

"That thing is not from the world of the living…" Radagast said suddenly the heard a howl in the distance.

"Are there wolves in these forest?" Bilbo asked.

"No." said Radagast. Almost instantly a giant wolf like creature jumped out from above a ledge.

"Warg!" Gloin shouted. Kili shot an arrow through its head and the beast went down.

"Everyone quickly back to the ponies!" Gandalf shouted.

"They've all run off!" Bofur exclaimed, they heard more howls in the distance.

"It's an orc pack." Thorin said.

"What!?" Bilbo and Emith shouted at the same time.

"Don't worry, I'll lead them away." Radagast said.

"Are you crazy those are Gundabad wargs, they'll out run you." Gandalf said.

"Those are Rhosgobel rabbits! I'd like to see them try." Radagast smiled wickedly hopping on his sleigh.

"Run!" Gandalf shouted. They all took off running past the trees and out into a tundra. With all their belongings strapped to their backs and weapons in hand they ran across the tundra. Suddenly Radagast flew past them.

"Turn back!" Thorin shouted at them. They all stopped quickly and changed direction to hide behind rocks while the wargs and orcs zoomed by them.

"Go!" Gandalf shouted once they had passed. They all began running again. Again Radagast had passed in front of them and they had to run back quickly and hide behind more rocks while the wargs and orcs chased after him.

"Go! Go!" Thorin said. Bombur tripped and fell forward. Emith and Bofur quickly helped him up and than Bombur was off running again but this time faster than any of them. Emith ran as fast as she could, her lungs burned and she began falling behind. First Fili passed her, then Dori and Nori. She was getting tiered. She saw Kili passing her out the corner of her eye and suddenly she felt a pull on her arm. Kili had grabbed her hand as was pulling her along.

"Don't stop running!" he shouted at her.

"Don't let go!" she shouted back and he didn't he just kept running and pulling her long. For the third time Radagast had crossed their path with his rabbit pulled sleigh. The company hid behind a large rock. Emith leaned her back against the rock and breathed heavily. Bifur put his hand over her mouth and Kili made the 'shh' with his finger to his lips. Thorin made a movement with his head at Kili, who then pulled out his bow and strung an arrow. A warg and orc suddenly appeared above and Kili sent an arrow through the orcs head. Dwalin brought his battle hammer down on the warg, which let out a pitiful cry. Emith heard another strange language being spoken.

"Run!" Thorin shouted and they all took off running again. Kili grabbed her hand again and they too were off running only this time they weren't running to hide, the other orcs and wargs had spotted them and were not hot on their trail.

Kili stopped and turned and released another arrow, quickly turned back around grabbed Emith's hand and kept on running. In the commotion Gandalf disappeared and the company had nowhere to go. Kili turned to release more arrows and Emith did they same bringing down two orcs.

"This way you fools!" they heard Gandalf shout, Emith turned to see the wizard again only to have him disappear between two rocks.

"Everyone go!" Thori shouted. Kili was still shooting orcs. Emith grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the rocks. One by one they all slid down one rock and under another. Kili lifted Emith up and tossed her down the hole and jumped in just before releasing another arrow. Emith landed on top of Bifur and Bofur who landed on Ori and Bombur. She went to stand but suddenly Kili came crashing down on top of her with a dead orc and warg.

Emith pushed him of her and clambered to her feet. From above they could hear the other orcs and wargs and the suddenly the sound of a horn.

"I can't see where the path leads!" Oin shouted.

"Follow it anyway!" Ori said running behind him.

"Let's go." Fili said nudging Emith towards the others.

"My leg." She said, still trying to catch her breath. Kili dropped down to his knees and pulled off her right boot, the scar around her ankle had opened up and was bleeding profusely. Fili handed Kili some water to clean it and than the ointment Nori had let them borrow before. She bit her lip as the cream stung against her skin. Kili wrapped her ankle in a fresh bandage and slid her boot back on. Emith was still out of breath and limped down the path behind the others.

"You seemed so up to running a few days ago." Gloin said as he walked behind her.

"There is a difference between running from monsters and running from men." she said heavily.

* * *

They had been walking between two narrow towering cliffs for over an hour and they still had no idea where they were heading. It was a very narrow passage and when one person stopped everyone between him and the last person were squished together. It was rather unpleasant for Emith who walked right in front of Bifur and when they were squished together her long red curls would get caught in the axe sticking out his head. Emith would shout as her hair snagged and Bifur would rant something indistinguishable.

At one point it got so mangled Kili, who was in front of her had to force himself to turn around in the cramped spot and slice of a bit of the front right part of her hair which she had a heart attack over. Gloin who was behind Bifur was too short to reach over him to do it. Emith was very upset that Kili had cut off a chunk of her hair, although she was glad the moment it was over, she didn't like the idea of having her hair caught in a weapon permanently stuck in a persons skull and also Kili's chest had been tightly pressed against hers the entire time he sawed at her locks. His face was a very awkward and short distance from her own and the whole time he stared her dead in the eyes with a grin.

After another thirty minutes of pushing and shoving each other through the passage they came upon an open space. Emith looked out across what appeared to be a gorge, in the distance there was the most beautiful place she had ever seen.

"What is this place?" she asked in awe.

"Imaldris also known 'The Last Homely House East of the Sea', in the common tongue however it is known simply as," Gandalf started.

"Rivendell." Bilbo said breathlessly.

"This was your plan all along?" Thorin said angrily looking at Gandalf.

"I don't know what you are talking about." He replied. "Although while we are here." Gandalf smiled. They began to make their way down steps carved out of the rock. They crossed a bridge which sat high above a flowing river. They walked into a round courtyard and down the steps appeared the most beautiful man Emith had ever seen.

"Mithrandir." the man said hugging Gandalf. The two spoke a few words in another language.

"Bofur, what is he?" Emith whispered.

"That would be an Elf." Bofur responded. Just then dozens of horses came across the bridge and surrounded them, the dwarves took to a defensive formation drawing their weapons. Emith and Bilbo just stood in awe at the other Elven men on the horses. A particularly tall one dismounted his horse and spoke several words in the strange language.

"So unusal for Orcs to come this close to our boarders." he said.

"That would be our fault." Gandalf said to him. "My company and I were being chased by them." he added on. The tall man stared at Thorin.

"Welcome Thorin, son of Thrain. I am Lord Elrond, I knew your grandfather when he ruled under the mountain." the man said.

"He made no mention of you." Thorin said sharply. Elrond spoke a few more words in his language.

"Does he offer us insult!?" Gloin roared.

"No master Gloin, he's offering you food." Gandalf said.

"Oh." Gloin said, him and the rest of the dwarves turned and huddled quickly for a moment sharing exchanges in their language. They all turned back around.

"Lead on then." Gloin said with a smile. Lord Elrond lead them through a series of passages and into a gorgeous outdoor area with a long table and chairs.

"Sit." Elrond gestured at them. The dwarves all sat the table and of course it wasn't before long that Kili was back to pushing others out the way, this time Nori, to sit next to Emith. Fili made no attempt at all. Gandalf, Thorin, Balin and Bilbo however sat with Lord Elrond at another rounder table. After a few moment food was brought out to them in beautiful silver trays.

"Where's the meat?" Bofur asked. Ori held up a green piece of lettuce.

"Try it." Nori said to him. "Just take one big mouthful."

"No, I don't like green food." Ori said.

"Not even a hint of meat?" Emith asked an Elf as he placed a tray of carrots in front of her and Kili.

"Thought you girls were all into this grass stuff." Fili said with a smile.

"I grew up on floating block of ice. There was no grass. We ate lemming and fish, which ever you managed to catch first. You were very lucky if you got one of the larger mammals, my dad snagged a caribou once, we ate like kings." she said with a smile remembering it like it was only yesterday and pushed the carrots away from her.

"We can bring fish if you like." Elrond said from across the room.

"Thank you please." she said with a smile. Not long after the fish came out and everyone was filling their faces. They had original been served wine but Elrond managed to find some ale for them after Dwalin stated that 'no day was accomplished without a proper drink' and they drank like the men they were, even Emith. The dwarves were all surprised by how much she could drink.

"Such a tiny girl, so much ale. Where does it all go?" Oin said with a roaring laugh.

"Could you change the tune?" asked Nori as he looked back and an Elf-maid playing the harp, the other dwarves and Emith laughed. Bofur suddenly got up on the table.

"There's an inn, there's an inn, there's a merry old inn beneath an old grey hill," he began to sing to a simple beat, the other dwarves began to clap along to it.

"And there they brew a beer so brown that the Man in the Moon himself came down one night to drink his fill. The ostler has a tipsy cat that plays a five-stringed fiddle; and up and down he saws his bow now squeaking high, now purring low, now sawing in the middle." A few of the other dwarves had begun to sing along and Emith laughed .

"So the cat on the fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle, a jig that would wake the dead. He squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune, while the landlord shook the Man in the Moon: 'It's after three!' he said." The dwarves began to toss food at one another and Kili grabbed a few carrots and tossed them in Emith's face. She grabbed a roll of bread and chucked it at his head.

"Em." Bofur said, she turned to look at him only to see lettuce being tossed at her. After a few more minutes of rowdiness they all calmed down. Emith shook her red curls to toss out the carrots that had landed in her hair, she looked up to see the Elf-maid who had played the harp looking disgustedly at her. Emith looked down and smoothed out her hair as best she could, running her fingers through the hair by her right cheek that Kili had cut off earlier.

"I can't say I fancy Elves myself." Kili said loudly. Emith looked up at him.

"Too thin. They're all high cheekbones and creamy skin." he said shaking his head at the others and a few of them nodded.

"Personally, I prefer a girl who can drink her weight in beer." he added on and the others gave a might roar and shout holding up their mugs and toasting.

Kili looked over at Emith who had a sadness in her face gave him a weak smile before looking back down and continuing to brush her fingers through her curls.

* * *

"Here you go ma'am." Lindir said kindly opening a door. Emith stepped through it, it was a gorgeous large room, with stunning architecture and in the center a large silver tub.

"Wow, I think I could fit my village in your bathroom." she said astonished. Lindir smiled.

"We Elves have a love for the more lavish things in life. I'm just glad you wanted a real bathroom." he said handing her a robe.

"Unlike your dwarf companions who choose to bathe themselves in our most sacred fountain." he added in with a frown. Emith's jaw dropped a bit.

"It might not mean much from me but I am so sorry on their behalf." she said.

"Your apology is better than no apology." Lindir said bowing gracefully at her and closing the door to give her privacy. Emith walked over to the silver tub, beside it was a stool so she folded the robe Lindir gave her and set it down gently. First she kicked off her muddy boots and undid the belt holding up her pants, slid them off and pulled her shirt over her head. She tossed them all off to side, she felt bad because her clothes had been covered in so much dried mud and she had tracked it across the beautifully tiled floor. Maybe if she asked nicely the Elves would let her wash them before the company set off again.

She stepped into the tub, her face scrunched a bit as the scar on her ankle touched the hot water. It felt like heaven though, she hadn't taken many hot baths before, just a few when she was small before the coal shortages. She scooped water into her hands and wet her face and then again to wet her hair. She ran her wet fingers through the curls and felt the height difference of where her hair normally fell and the part Kili had chopped off.

She had begun to feel very self-conscious after dinner. Perhaps it was the presence of the Elf women. She hadn't grown up to be a lady, she enjoyed hunting with her dad and playing in the snow, she liked wearing her pants and boots and who the hell cared if she looked proper, they were poor and after the war she was sent away to live with a butcher.

She stared down at her reflection in the water. There was a large scar across her forehead from a childhood accident. Her body was always covered in scars from being a clumsy child to the physical labor and years of abuse, the only thing she took much pride in was her hair. It was wild and crazy, red and curly just like her fathers and it fell to her shoulders just like his had. Her eyes were her mothers though, they always had been.

She took hold of the part of her hair that Kili had cut off again, it looked awkward from the rest of her hair.

"That little dwarf better keep an eye on his locks, I have the right mind to chop it off." she mumbled to herself.

She laid back in the water, the tub felt more like a pool, there was really enough space to fit about six more people in it. A cool breeze came in through the windows and the leaves on the trees rustled. Emith submerged herself entirely under the water. She stayed there for a moment holding her breath. Suddenly something strange happened she heard her name being called. She went to surface but a hand grabbed her foot and pulled her back down.

She sat up to bring her head above the water and she gasped for air. Something was still pulling on her foot and she kicked in the tub to get it off. It suddenly let go and than came back, this time as a pair of hands reaching out of the water underneath her, they clamped over her mouth and brought her head back under the water. Emith panicked and fought against the hands dragging her down, she tried to grab into the sides of the tub but they had disappeared.

Somehow she was no longer in the tub but being dragged down into open water. She felt the pressure on her body as she was dragged down deeper, she was still struggling to breathe. Then it was if she had started falling up and she felt herself floating to the surface. When she got to the top she gasped for air and flailed about.

"Emithel!" a women's voice shouted. Emith was coughing and rubbing the water from her eyes, she was also shivering as the water had become very cold.

"Emithel, sweetheart are you alright?" the women said. Emith looked up at her, the woman was old and her face sagged a bit, she had long black hair that was starting to grey and the most emerald-green eyes she had only seen on one other person in her life. Her mother.

"Mommy?" Emith asked. The woman pulled Emith from the water and drapped a large blanket around her.

"Oh child, no. It's Ophelia, I never thought I'd see you again." Ophelia said hugging her tightly, it was not her mother but her aunt.

"Aunt you've gotten old." Emith said shivering. Ophelia cupped Emith's face in her hands and smiled weakly.

"Of course I have. You've been gone for fifty years." She said with tears in her eyes. Emith looked around to see that she was in a house made of entirely of ice and that water she had been pulled from was another smaller tub made of wood.

"Are we in?" Emith asked.

"In the village? No child but we aren't from from where it used to be. We took our land back, we took it all back." Ophelia smiled.

"Let us get you into some nice, warm clothes. You'll freeze to death standing naked in that blanket." and she reached over and lifted some clothes from a wood table and handed it over to Emith.

"I don't understand. You said I've been gone for fifty years but it's only been a few days, a week at most." Emith said as she put on the clothes.

"Time moves faster here than in that world I sent you too." Ophelia said pouring her a cup of tea.

"Wait, what? You sent me there?" Emith asked confused. Ophelia nodded.

"When I heard that you attacked Alastrine I couldn't live knowing I might lose you like I lost my sister. I knew you had headed east towards Rowling, there is a door in those woods, I used a bit of magic to push you through it. It was the only way to save you." Ophelia said.

"Magic? You have magic?" Emith asked in shock.

"Yes, I've hidden it. You remember the school lessons of the witch burning back in the fifth age." Ophelia said.

"I do, I just… I didn't know it was real. I assumed they were all nuts." Emith said, her head was swimming with information. She sat down in a chair and Ophelia handed her tea.

"How long have we been free? What happened?" Emith asked.

"We've been free for forty-three years, after your attack on Alastrine the people rallied and his son Prince Riggs declared his allegiance to the people and brought war against his father. After Alastrine's death in battle, Prince Riggs ascended to the throne of Tattersall and gave back Scot and Wes Moore, he formed and alliance with us. We've been brought nothing but wealth and peace." Ophelia told her.

"Why did you wait fifty years to bring me back?" Emith asked.

"I tried to, I did, I promise I did, but I could not find your spirit. You wandered so far from the door, I had to build one myself to bring you back through. It took me fifty years to do it but you are home." Ophelia said tearfully and hugging Emith tight.

"It's only been a week for me." she whispered.

"I know and I am so sorry." Ophelia said.

* * *

Lindir walked swiftly through the halls of Rivendale. He had never felt such panic in his utterly long life. He dashed up some stairs, turned right, than left, up some more stairs. In the distance he could Lord Elrond talking with Gandalf. Lindir walked speedily towards them.

"Lord Elrond, pardon the interruption but we have a slight problem." he said.

"What is it Lindir?" Elrond asked.

"It seems that one of Gandalf's companions has well umm…" Lindir struggled to find the right words.

"One of my companions has what?" Gandalf asked.

"It's the girl, she's been eaten by the bathtub." Lindir said panicked.

"What?" Elrond asked confused. Lindir was struggling.

"Well I had gone to see if she had needed anything else. I knocked on the door but she didn't answer but I heard splashes and what sounded like a possible struggle so I opened the door and she was being pulled into the water buy a second pair of hands. Hands that were not here own. I ran over to help her but she'd gone under and the water froze solid. She was eaten by the bathtub!" Lindir shouted. Gandalf and Elrond looked strangely at the young Elf and then took off sprinting towards the scene of the event.

Elrond swung open the door to see the much of the bathroom had become covered in ice and that just as Lindir had said the water in the tub had frozen solid and Emith was nowhere in sight. Elrond looked over at Gandalf.

"This is a strange magic." Elrond said.

"So you feel it too?" Gandalf asked.


	3. First Draft: Chapters 14 to 20

**Part Three of Original Installments**

_These chapters were my pride and joy, I loved them with a fierce passion and still think they are the best of the original version_

_but it was also around the time I started writing these chapters that I began to realize the story wasn't very good_

_as a whole and started massively editing their content from the first chapter._

* * *

Emith walked through the soft snow. Her people were given back their country and freed from their captivity but fifty years had passed. All the people she knew aged greatly or were dead. The boy she shared her first kiss with at the age of ten was now seventy-three, he had a wife and children and even grandchildren and they all told her how she hadn't aged a day and she hadn't but it had been fifty years since she left home and three years since she came back.

Three years since she left Middle-Earth through a bathtub. Emith crossed the snow of the ice drift that once connected her village to the main land. She came to the water's edge and looked up at a stone monument, it was carved with images of her village when it was built, they day it burned and drifted into the sea. Around the monument were the remains of the Kelli's bridge and a metal plaque with the names of all the people who lived and who died in the village that day.

Enid & Bal

Loving Parents and Friends.

"Mommy, daddy I miss you so much." she said. "Everything has changed and I am so scared." she ran her fingers across their names. She sat quietly in the snow in front of the monument for awhile.

"Emithel, what is wrong?" Ophelia said coming up behind her.

"Nothing." Emith said. Ophelia knew better.

"It's been three years. Are you not yet glad to be home?" Ophelia asked with a frown. Emith looked up at her, it was true since the day she came back home she had thought of leaving back to Middle-Earth. Sure she had only spent a week there but the place seemed more like home than her real home.

She missed the old wizard and the tiny hobbit who seemed as terrified and as new to everything as she was. She missed Ori asking her questions and his knitted clothes. She missed hearing Gloin's stories of his son. She even missed Fili's mustache braids and being mad at Kili for cutting her hair.

She was so afraid it had all been a dream that even when her aunt offered to even out her hair she screamed at her not to. She began to twirl her fingers in the part that Kili had cut, it had grown back since she had come home and now sat at her shoulder while the rest of her hair fell to her elbows. It was the only thing she had to reassure herself it was all real and she often twirled the curls unconsciously.

She came back home with nothing, not even clothes and her new ones didn't make her happy. Ophelia liked being prim and proper now that they had a bit more money and she constantly stuck Emith in dresses, much to her discomfort. How was she to walk across ice and hunt lemming and fish in a dress. Emith looked at Ophelia. She was grateful for her despite their wardrobe disagreements. She was eight the last time she had seen her.

"Oh Ophelia, the entire time we were apart I dreamed of the day I would see you again. I prayed for the day I would come back and be able to call Scot my home. When I left this world I thought I'd never have that chance, I thought maybe in a year or two I'd find a way back but I was only gone a week. I didn't think that a week there would turn into fifty years here. I was nineteen when I left, now I'm seventy-two but I don't look any older than I was." Emith said. Ophelia caressed her cheek.

"I realize it must be hard. I wish I could send you back, I know you are miserable here but I am old and my magic is not a strong as it was." Ophelia said. Tears fell from Emith's eyes.

"I feel so lost." she cried.

"I am so sorry." Ophelia said hugging her tight. After a few moments she stood and walked away leaving Emith alone in front of the monument.

Ophelia trudged through the snow and into her house, she sat in her chair and cried quietly to herself.

"Oh sister what have I done?" she said to no one.

"I tried to help her and I've only made things worse." she continued on.

"Oh sister in heaven look down upon your daughter. Help me help her." Ophelia cried into her hands. The fire crackled and the wind banged against the windows. Ophelia looked up.

"What is this magic?" she said to herself as a strange feeling washed over her. The water in the tub began to churn and out popped a man, he looked Ophelia in the face and climbed out.

"Uhh… hello. I'm looking for a red-head." he said to her.

"Who are you?" Ophelia asked confused.

"Kili of son of Dis, at your service." he said bowing. Ophelia sat in utter shock, she knew that name, Kiwi, Kili... whatever. She shot up from her chair.

"Oh Stay here, I'll be right back." she said running out the front door. Ophelia ran through the town across the snow and ice.

"Emi! Em! Emithel! Child come here!" she shouted as she reached the edge of the town. In the distance she saw Emith stand and run across the plain to her.

"Ophelia what's wrong?" she asked concerned.

"No time let's go!" Ophelia shouted excitedly pulling her niece by the hand and through the town. She swung open the door to her house open and covered Emith's eyes.

"Aunt please tell me what is wrong." she said grabbing at her aunts hands so she could see.

"A man has come to see you. Perhaps he would like to stay?" Ophelia said. Emith suddenly felt very sick, several men came to see her a month to court her. She really hoped it wasn't another one of those men. Ophelia moved her hands from Emith's eyes and revealed a soaking wet Kili standing by the fire.

"Kili." Emith said breathlessly as she ran up to him and hugged him tightly.

"Did you get older?" he asked hugging her and noticing that her hair had gotten longer. Emith laughed.

"Come on we don't want the king finding you." Kili said dragging her over to the wooden tub.

"My people are free now." Emith said to him, Kili looked at her strangely.

"You guys had a revolution in a week? You sure do move fast." He said.

"It's been fifty-three years." she said.

"It's been a week." he said.

"Time moves differently in our world. What was a week a for me in Middle-Earth turned into fifty years and it's been three years that I've been home." she said to him.

"So you have aged. Well than let's go now, I don't think Thorin will be to happy if I come back to Middle-Earth a hundred years older." he said grabbing her by the hand and leading her towards the tub.

"How are you even here, this isn't a proper doorway." Emith asked him.

"Gandalf and Elrond opened it, they tried to pull you back through but they couldn't find you, I volunteered to bring you back before your king found you... unless you wish to stay here with your family." Kili said suddenly realizing she had no reason to go back.

"No I want to go!" Emith said quickly.

"Are you sure?" Kili asked looking Emith in her eyes.

"I don't belong here anymore." she said to him, Kili smiled at her and stepped into the tub.

"Let's go." he said. Emith looked over at Ophelia.

"You are leaving?" Ophelia asked suddenly and horrified.

"Is that not why you came shouting to me excitedly?" Emith asked back.

"No, I thought you'd be happy to see a face from that world. I thought we'd invite him to stay here so you could be happy and most importantly stay here with me." Ophelia said exasperated.

"Ophelia he cannot stay here." Emith said.

"And apparently you don't want to stay either." Ophelia said hurt.

"You would want me to stay here where I no longer fit in? You would have me stay and watch all the people I knew as children whither away while I remain unchanged? You want me to watch you die, like I watched..." Ophelia shook her head at Emith as if to say 'don't speak anymore'.

"Those green eyes belong to your mother but those red curls." Ophelia said twirling them in her finger. "Those red locks belong to your father and I miss them so much and I am going to miss you so much as well." Ophelia said running her fingers through her nieces hair.

"Are you sure you want to go?" Ophelia said.

"I don't belong here anymore, this place is my home but I can't stay here." Emith said.

"Emithel, you've wandered across two worlds, are you sure haven't lost your way?" Ophelia said, she tried to convince her to stay.

"Not all who wander are lost. I have some people I need to help. I know my home is safe so I think it is only right of me to make sure theirs is too." Emith said. Ophelia held her close. The wind blew hard outside.

"The door is opening." Ophelia said.

"I love you Ophelia." Emith said with tears in her eyes.

"I love you too. This will be the last time we see each other." Ophelia said helping Emith step into the tub beside Kili.

"I won't ever forget where I came from." Emith said hugging her tightly. Kili grabbed her hand and gave her one last look to make sure it was what she wanted. Ophelia kissed Emith's forehead and gave a small wave to Kili, then placed her hands on top of their heads and pushed them down under the icy cold water. Emith barely had time to catch her breath before she was being pushed deep under the water. The pressure felt heavy on her body. She could feel Ophelia's hand move from her head to her free hand. Kili held tightly to the other and before the complete silence she heard the softest whisper of words.

"Until the next life my child."

* * *

The water was cold and heavy against Emith's chest. She held tightly to Ophelia's hand, magic was a strange thing. Emith knew she was falling deeper and deeper into the water but Ophelia's hand never left hers and neither did Kili's. As they were falling deeper Emith felt several hands wrap around her. Than suddenly being pulled up, changing direction like she had done before. Ophelia's hand let go but Kili's and the others were dragging her to the surface and then they all disappeared.

Emith was starting to run out of air. She was surrounded by water but there were no hands to guide her to the surface. Which way was up? She began to panic, she was alone in the water. She reached out several times for something to grab onto, her head became light and she was dizzy, running out of air. Suddenly she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her waist and pull her roughly to the surface. Emith gasped for air as she was pulled from the water and on to the tiled floor.

"That wasn't so bad." she heard Kili say.

"Quickly get some blankets. They'll go into shock if their bodies don't warm up." Elrond said. Emith looked around to see that she was back in the bathroom she had left from except the entire company, Elrond, Lindir and several other Elves had all crowded into it.

"We thought you were a goner." Bofur said tossing a blanket around her.

"Oh Bofur I am so glad to see you." she said throwing her arms around him and giving him a wet hug.

"It's been thirty minutes." he said confused.

"I'm afraid her it's been longer." Gandalf said noticing she had gotten older.

"Three years longer." Kili said as Lindir helped her to her feet.

"I thought I was never going to come back." Emith said.

"You can tell us all about it when you've warmed and dried up." Elrond said escorting her out the bathroom.

Lindir took over the escorting as Elrond tried to convince the company to give Emith some time to adjust to being back. Kili refused to put on dry clothes until he knew she'd be fine. Thorin of course yelled at him to put on dry and to stop being a child.

Lindir led Emith into another large room. It had a large bed in the center of it, elegant silks hung from the canopy above. A vanity stood off to the left and a large closet and balcony. He handed her a silk robe and headed towards the door but before he exited he turned around to look at her.

"Please don't get eaten by the closet. I don't I can handle another scare like that." he said exasperated. Emith laughed and nodded her head. Lindir closed the door and she pulled off the wet dress she was wearing and wrapped herself in the robe. She walked over to the balcony and rung out the water from her hair. She breathed deeply, there was something so calming about the air. Just then there was a knock at the door and Lindir popped his head in.

"I'm still here don't worry." she said, Lindir smiled.

"Your friends would like to speak to you." he said, Emith nodded and in came pouring in fifteen men all shouting and asking questions.

"Was it really three years?" Ori asked.

"What happened when you got back?" asked Bombur. Emith sat on the edge of the bed and all the dwarves and Bilbo crowded around her. Gandalf took a seat at the vanity.

"Yes three very long years. When I got back I found myself in my aunts home. Except she was much older than she was when I left. She told me the week I spent here in Middle-Earth with you guys was actually fifty over there. My people had been free for forty-three years. All the friends I grew up with had children and grandchildren and then there was me, not looking a day older than nineteen." she said to them all.

"Fifty-three years in total. That means you should be turning seventy-three this year." Bilbo said in shock.

"Ha ha, Bilbo you're back to being the youngest." Dwalin laughed.

"Fifty is a good age for a Hobbit." Bilbo defended.

"Fifty? You're fifty?" Emith asked in disbelief.

"Gandalf is a few hundred years old, Fili and Kili turned eighty-two and seventy-seven just this past year." Balin said.

"Guess I have to stop calling you a child now." Gandalf laughed.

"Why'd you come back?" Thorin asked, everyone looked at him.

"If your land is now free and your house is in order why would you choose to come back?" he said curiously.

"I was gone for so long, so much had changed, my home was safe and secure but it didn't feel like home. Middle-Earth feels like home and you all my family, although I'm not sure how a family feels anymore."

"You feel like family too." Ori said sweetly. Emith hugged him deeply.

"Emith?" Thorin said.

"If we are your family will you help us take back our home?" he asked with a seriousness in his face.

"A million worlds couldn't stand in my way." she said to him with a smile.

* * *

Emith sat against the headboard of the abnormally large bed. The Elves really had a lavish way of living. All the blankets were made of silk and linen, they were soft and thin to the touch. She was rather upset that she didn't have the wool blanket Ori had lent her, it was chilly and had really wanted to cocoon herself in it. Lord Elrond however insisted on having all their things washed and cleaned and she didn't blame him, they had all been mostly covered in mud and in her case drenched in water.

She slid out of the bed and strolled out to the balcony, she placed her elbows on the railing and looked out over Rivendell. The place was like a dream even in the darkness of the night it seemed to all glow. Such a strange and beautiful it was. Emith shivered a bit and rubbed her hands against her arms.

"Well doesn't someone look riveting and rather cold in silk." a voice said. Emith turned around but saw no one she leaned back into the room to see if anybody was in there but there wasn't. She turned her head back to the balcony and saw a slightly muscular, slightly hairy and slightly chubby shirtless Kili standing in front of her.

"I think silk is truly more your fabric. Whatever that dress you had on was made of didn't do you justice." Kili said smirking and taking a bite of an apple.

"It was made of wool by my grandmother." Emith said defensively.

"It was absolutely lovely! I'm just saying, why wear wool when you look so good in silk." Kili teased. Emith bit her lip and blushed.

"People who live in houses made of solid ice wear wool." she laughed. Kili stepped closer to her.

"Yeah I noticed that, it's actually very impressive. You were not joking when you said you lived on a block of ice. Took a look out the window, not a mountain or tree for miles. Seems a bit… lonely." he said looking her up and down. Emith crossed her arms across her chest, she couldn't lie to herself anymore. Kili had this certain appeal that made her uncomfortable around him.

"Why are you here?" she asked while trying to keep a straight face, she cracked the slightest of smiles.

"To tell you how wonderful you look in silk." he said with a smile tossing himself on her bed.

"Also you seemed a bit down towards the end of dinner." he said looking over at her.

"I did?" she asked with a confused face. Kili looked at her like she was crazy and then it dawned upon him, he sat up and stood immediately.

"I completely forgot dinner for you was three years ago and not earlier today." he said awkwardly and heading back towards the balcony. Emith watched him as he moved.

"Did you want to tell me something?" she said grabbing his arm so he'd look at her. He smiled at her but it was a weak smile.

"No. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. Go inside, you'll catch a cold." he said touching her goosebump covered arms.

"Says the man wandering about without his shirt." she teased him as she turned around to walk back into the room.

"Wait a minute, how did you get up here?" she asked but when she turned around Kili gone. She stood for a moment.

"Bloody dwarves." she said to herself as she climbed into the large bed. She grabbed as much of the blanket as she could and pulled them over her. She closed her eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep and the strangest of dream. She could hear her aunt calling her name, just in whispers but all she could strangely see was... Thorin... illuminated in a red light. Ophelia's voice kept whispering to her.

"Look in his heart, look at his sickness." she could hear Ophelia whispering in a panic. Thorin led her down a dark corridor.

"Look at the sickness that consumes his soul!" Ophelia's voice shouted at her, but Thorin just kept leading her to an unknown destination.

"Look at him! Look at what he will become!" Ophelia shouted. Thorin went to look back at her.

"Em, wake up." Kili said shaking her violently. Emith's eyes shot open, Kili was sitting beside her in the darkness.

"What's wrong?" she asked grumpy.

"Were leaving, put your clothes on." she heard Bofur say as her clothes were tossed to her. Emith climbed out of the bed. Bofur turned away from her to let her dress. Emith was just about to take off her robe when she noticed Kili staring at her.

"Excuse me." she said, Kili had suddenly realized he was staring at her and Bofur grabbed him violently to make him turn away. Emith pulled her pants on under the robe, she wasn't going to run the risk of being seen nude by Kili if he decided to sneak a peek. Once she pulled her belt tight she tossed off the robe.

She heard a loud whack and saw Bofur putting his hat back on while Kili was rubbing his head. She could only assume Kili was hit with the funny shaped hat after Bofur noticed he was trying to look. She tossed on her shirt and slid on her boots.

"Let's go." Bofur handed her a cloak and she looked at him curiously.

"It's going to get a bit cold where we are going." he told her. Emith tossed it around her shoulders and grabbed her pack, bow and quiver from Kili. Bofur led the way out the room, they crept down the dark and quiet halls until they came across the rest of the company.

"That is fifteen. All here and accounted for." Balin said.

"Where is Gandalf?" Bilbo asked.

"He will be joining us later. We must put some distance between ourselves and this place before the sun rises." Thorin said leading them down stone steps, across a courtyard, down more steps, across a bridge and up a small path along the side of the canyon walls.

"We'll being going through the Misty Mountains. Understand one wrong step could mean the end of your life." Thorin told them as they climbed out of the canyon and up the base of a massive mountain chain.

* * *

The wind blew fiercely and the rain pounded down hard on them. They had climbed up over the Misty Mountains for hours when the path disappeared and Thorin decided to take the company down a narrow cliff passage through the mountains. They were all drenched and exhausted from the beating they were taking. There was a flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder.

Emith clung to the rocks around her as she moved, she wasn't taking a chance, she didn't like the idea of falling of the side of a mountain. There was another loud rumble of thunder.

"This is a terrible storm!" Gloin shouted as rocks came falling down from above them and barely missing. "We should turn back!"

"This is no ordinary storm!" Balin shouted pointing off into the distance. Everyone turned to see a massive figure emerging from the rock, it tore off part of the mountain and tossed it like a ball. They watched as the chunk flew into another massive figure.

"Bless me, the legends are true! Giants! Stone giants!" Oin shouted. The ground underneath them shook violently and began to split apart between Fili and Kili.

"Fili grab my hand!" Fili reached out towards his brother but it was too late the gap had widened to much. Fili, Bilbo, Bofur, Bombur, Dwalin, Ori and Emith were all on the ledge of a rock moving incredibly fast and far from the others.

"Were going to die!" Ori shouted. Bombur and Bilbo clung tightly to the rocks while Dwalin and Bofur were almost certainly cursing in Dwarvish and Emith was clinging to Fili for her life. In the distance they could see the others jump off the giant and back on the much more stable mountain side.

"Ori!" she shouted as he slipped and went falling off the ledge she let go of Fili and jumped forward to grab Ori's arm before he was out of reach.

"Pull me up! Pull me up!" Ori shouted as he reached his free arm up to grab Emith's other hand.

"I can't!" she said. The rain was still pouring down on them and the ledge they were on was still moving in every direction making it difficult to do anything. Bofur reached over the ledge carefully to help her pull Ori back up.

"By my beard, we're on the knee of a stone giant!" Dwalin suddenly realized as they zoomed past the mountain side the others were securely perched on. Ori looked up at Emith and Bofur terrified.

"PULL ME UP!" He screamed. Bofur and Emith gave one big heave and Ori was back on the ledge with them. Emith slipped but Fili caught her, Bombur swayed but Bilbo and Dwalin grabbed him and pulled him back in. The were all standing with their backs against the rock ledge. They kept swaying and flying in all directions, Bombur and especially Bilbo looked like they might be ready to hurl at any moment.

In the distance they could see the others panicking and searching for a way to reach them and almost suddenly they were getting closer and through the rain Emith could see they had the most horrified looks on their faces.

"Brace for impact!" Bofur shouted. Dwalin and Ori sunk to the ledge floor, Bombur screamed while clutching to any rock he could find, Bilbo stood silent and horrified as they came flying towards the side of the mountain. Bofur and Fili tossed themselves on top of Emith in hopes that if they slammed into the mountain they could save her from some of the injury. With one colossal impact they slammed into the mountain.

"Kili!" Thorin shouted.

"I'm Kili!" Kili shouted.

"Fili!" Thorin shouted. The knee of the stone giant pulled away from the mountain and Dwalin, Ori, Bofur, Bombur, Fili and Emith found themselves laying across each other on stable ground. Bombur landed on Dwalin and Ori and Bofur were squished side by side in a corner with Dwalin's boot in Fili's face who was on top Emith and being kneed in by Ori. The others came running over to help them. Kili pulled Fili up to his feet and hugged him tightly.

"Where is Bilbo?" Emith asked suddenly. Everyone looked around and panicked.

"He's on the ledge!" Nori shouted. Fili, Kili and Bofur all reached over to pull him up but Bilbo was barely hanging on with a single hand. They couldn't get him up. Thorin jumped off the side next to Bilbo and pushed the little Hobbit up on to solid ground and then pulled himself up.

"I thought we almost lost our burglar." Dwalin said as Emith and Balin comforted a silent and traumatized Bilbo.

"He's been lost ever since he left home." Thorin said angrily and began to move down the path on the mountain side. Emith helped Bilbo to his feet and gave him a small smile and comforting pat on the back. The company began to follow behind Thorin.

"There is a cave here. We will rest here for the night, we leave the first thing in the morning." Thorin said.

"We were supposed to meet up with Gandalf." Gloin noted.

"Is Gandalf here?" Thorin said sharply. Everyone piled into the cave shivering from their rain-soaked clothes. Emith leaned against a wall and slid down to the floor, she was exhausted, everyone else was too and they tossed and dropped themselves on the cave floor. Kili and Fili stood in a corner by the cave entrance, they were speaking the dwarf language and doing so very lowly, almost in whispers. Emith could tell by the looks in their faces that the events that occurred moments earlier had terrified them, the brothers were genuinely afraid they might have lost each other and she didn't blame them for their fear, losing family was more painful than anything in the world. The two brothers laughed at each other and joined the rest of them in sitting against the cave walls.

"Thank you for trying to break my fall." Emith said as Fili sat on her right.

"Thank you for not hitting me when I accidentally touched your breast." Fili said with a laugh. Kili shot his brother an angry look as he sat on Emith's left. It was a look that said 'you bastard'. Emith laughed and they all talked and they laughed some more for a while and little by little everyone began to doze off.

Bofur sat at the front of cave, he was tasked with the first watch. With the exception of him, Emith and Kili were they only two still awake, they lay on their sides facing each other and whispering and giggling of the days earlier events. Kili laughed at how horrified Emith and the others looked when they realized they were going to crash. Emith laughed at how Thorin had called Fili by Kili's name.

Kili laughed but insisted it wasn't funny, Thorin was always calling them the wrong name. Emith still thought it was funny and after a while Kili couldn't deny that it actually was. Bofur kept shushing them for making too much noise when they laughed and Oin at one point got up to kick them both stating that it was very rude to be loud while others were trying to sleep.

After that Kili and Emith had both genuinely tried to fall asleep but every few minutes or so they would look at each other and start giggling and laughing. At one point Kili had to cover her mouth with his hand because she just couldn't stop laughing and Kili couldn't keep a straight face with her laughing the way she ways. It was only after Bofur came over and repeatedly and aggressively hit them both with his hat in attempt to keep them quiet that they actually managed to fall asleep.

* * *

Emith knew she was dreaming, she just couldn't understand why she was dreaming of Thorin. She was back in the cold dark corridor with her hand in Thorin's hand but he wouldn't look at her and she couldn't get away. Thorin was dragging her. Forcing her to go to an unknown place and the whole time she could hear her aunt's voice.

"Can't you feel it?" Ophelia asked but Emith couldn't feel anything other than Thorin's hands pulling her violently.

"Can't you see it?" Ophelia asked but she couldn't see anything other than the corridor and the back of Thorin's head.

"Can't you hear it?" Ophelia asked but Emith couldn't hear anything but her aunt. Not even her own screams and she was screaming as hard as she could, pulling away from Thorin, trying to break free. This place she was dreaming of, it terrified her. Thorin terrified her. She felt the floor beneath her shift. Was this part of the dream she thought.

"Everybody up!" someone shouted. Emith awoke violently just in time to see Bilbo and Bofur fall through the cave floor and suddenly her, Kili, Fili and Bombur were falling through as well down a dark hole that appeared from nowhere. They slid down into a cage like object. Emith quickly apologized to Bombur who she landed on top of only to get kicked in the head by Nori who hand fallen on top of her along with Ori and the others. They all looked up to see these ugly, grotesque creatures running at them.

"Goblins!" Oin shouted as he got to his feet. Everyone scrambled up to theirs as well ready to fight. They swung and they clobbered and Emith kicked and pushed but there were so many Goblins. Soon enough they had been overpowered and were being dragged across dragged bridges and wooden pathways.

They were inside the mountain, if not far beneath it. There were Goblins everywhere dragging them towards what appeared to be a throne and upon it sat a large, blubber blob of what appeared looked like fat. They were stripped of all their weapons which were tossed in a pile.

"What have we have here?" It spoke.

"Intruders your malevolence." one of the smaller goblins said.

"Well, well, well! Look who it is; Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, 'King under the Mountain'. Oh, but I'm forgetting; you don't have a mountain, and you're not a king, which makes you...nobody really. I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just a head! Nothing attached." the great goblin teased.

"A company of Dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield… and what is this?" the great goblin said with curiosity as he pointed towards Emith. The goblins that had held of her pushed her forward till she stood before the great goblin.

"A human girl… well she is quite pretty isn't she." the great goblin said touching her cheek. Emith sunk into herself in attempt to get away from his touch, she felt like vomiting.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Kili shouted and behind her she could hear the dwarves scuffling with the goblins and what she was sure was Gloin saying he'd cut off the genitals of any goblin who came near her.

"Ahh… you all seem to have a fondness for her, how sweet. Perhaps I shall keep her." the great goblin roared wickedly.

"I'd rather die than be in the company of a repulsive oaf like you." Emith spat, the great goblin moved his face very close to hers and she swore if his breath had been any worse she might have passed out.

"That can be arranged." he said and gestured to several goblins. Emith was suddenly being dragged off and all the dwarves began to scuffle with the goblins to reach her. Emith tried to pull away from the goblins but couldn't. Suddenly there was a flash of bright light and Gandalf appeared, the goblins let go of her to cover their eyes. Dwalin moved in close to her.

"Take up arms, fight!" Gandalf shouted. Everyone reached for their weapons and began to swing at the goblins.

"Run!" Gandalf shouted, Dwalin grabbed Emith hard by the arm, they were off running before she even realized it. They pushed and fought past goblins all the while Dwalin held tightly to her arm and defended her. It actually upset her a bit that she couldn't use her bow because she only had one free arm, so when she passed a goblin that Fili had stuck a long knife into she pulled it out and used it to attack whatever came near her or Dwalin.

Then they were falling from one wooden platform to another, she was lucky to land on her feet, Dwalin however didn't and lost his grip on her arm. In the moment it took him to get up and reach for her again she was already being grabbed Bofur and dragged behind him as he ran. Emith dropped the knife she had when a goblin hit Bofur who fell back on her. Emith pushed Bofur and strung an arrow in her bow releasing just in time to hit the goblin as it came near them. Out the corner of her eye she saw Kili block several of the goblins arrows with his sword.

"Oh, I can't believe that actually worked." she heard him mumble as he took off down the walkway.

As Emith rose to her feet she was once again tugged by the arm by one of the dwarves, this time it Dori. He ran with on hand gripped around Emith's arm the other swinging a flail. They ran just behind Ori, Nori, Fili and Kili who took hold of a ladder and plowed through goblins as they ran along the platform. In an instant they dropped the ladder and were using it as a makeshift path across a gap.

Again and again they kept turning left and right down wooden walkways and at one point the platform they stood on swung freely through the air. Dori tripped and let go of Emith's arm but before she could do anything she was being tossed across a gap by Fili. Emith landed hard on the walkway as Fili, Gandalf and a few of the other Dwarves swung back across the gap. Ori pulled Emith to her feet and when the others finally made the jump across they were off running again. Only this time Ori was behind her pushing her down the path.

A goblin popped out in front of Emith and swung a ball in chain at her, she ducked quickly but it hit Ori. Thorin came through and sliced it's head clear off, Thorin grabbed Emith violently by the arm and led her running down the path behind Gandalf who had managed to get a boulder to roll in front of him and squish any goblin they came across.

Emith didn't like the feeling of Thorin pulling and dragging her, it scared her but she couldn't seem to remember why.

"Up ahead an exit! Can't you see it?" Dori shouted from behind them. The words rang in her ears as they continued to run.

Can't you see it? Look at the sickness that consumes his soul.

She remembered the words Ophelia whispered in her dreams.

They came to a sudden stop. Emith began to pull away from Thorin but he wouldn't let go, he turned back to look at her. She pulled her arm angrily from him and he let go, she stumbled back and fell into Kili, who steadied her. Throin turned back around to see Gandalf and the great goblin standing face to face. She suddenly felt sick, Thorin's presence made her uneasy, she began to swoon but Kili held her up.

"Are you alright?" he whispered in her ear. Emith wasn't sure what to say.

"Whaddaya gonna do now, wizard?" the great goblin bellowed at Gandalf, who stepped forward and jabbed the great goblin in the eye with his staff and swung his sword twice, disemboweling the giant creature. Emith really felt like she'd faint now but the weight of the great goblin on the scaffolding caused it to collapse under them.

Kili grabbed hold to Emith and rolled her on top of him so when they finally hit the cavern floor he would hit it first. Bombur landed on Ori and Fili and ended up crushing Bifur who cursed angrily in dwarvish. They all lay there exhausted for a moment. Emith rested her head on Kili's chest, usually being so close to him made her uncomfortable but she really couldn't care at the moment.

"Well that could have been worse." Bofur said with a smile but at that moment the disemboweled body of the great goblin came slamming down on top of them. They all gave a painful shout.

"You've got to be joking." Dwalin cried out.

"Uhh guys…" Kili said pointing up. Emith lifted her head as did the others only to see thousands of angry goblins running towards them.

"Time to go." Gandalf said clambering to his feet. The others quickly followed. Fili pulled Bofur and Bifur out from under the great goblin as did Bombur for Ori and Balin for Dwalin and Dori. Gandalf helped up Thorin, who helped Gloin and Oin. Nori pulled Emith out from underneath the great goblin and then together they pulled out Kili. Then they were running again.

They ran down miles of corridors inside the mountain, every second down one and then through another with thousands of Goblins running not far behind them. Finally they saw the last hints of sunlight and flew towards the exit. Gandalf was out first and running down a very woody part of the mountain side. They all followed behind him into a clearing.

"That's Nori, Dori, Bombur and Bofur." Gandalf said as they came to a stop.

"Fili and Kili. That makes thirteen, Emith makes fourteen… Where is Bilbo?" Gandalf asked. Emith was panting from all the running. She honestly hadn't even noticed Bilbo was gone.

"He was right behind when we entered." Ori said.

"I think I saw him get away long before you came to get us." Dori added. Emith dropped herself on the floor to sit. She was too exhausted to try remembering when she last saw Bilbo, although she was very concerned about the tiny Hobbit. Maybe the goblins found him. Thorin and Gandalf were once again shouting at each other but she could very much care less and tuned them out and focused on steadying her breathing.

"Are you alright?" Kili asked bending down to check on her.

"Oh I'm fine, I was only tossed around like a rag doll back there." she said sarcastically.

"Sorry about that." Dori said.

"We just really didn't want you getting left. Goblins are well..." he trailed off and then walked away.

"Goblins what?" Emith asked suddenly very worried.

"Goblins have been known to well… defile human woman… in the not very nice ways." Fili said slowly, unsure if he should have said it all. Emith's jaw dropped in horror.

"We didn't mean to man handle you, we just didn't want anything bad to happen to you." Kili said as he ran his fingers through the curls by her shoulder but Emith looked as if she was about to cry so he hugged her tightly.

"Well, why does it matter? He's back!" Gandalf said. Emith and Kili looked over to see that Bilbo had suddenly appeared.

"It matters. I want to know - why did you come back?" Thorin asked.

"Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you're right... I often think of Bag End. I miss my books, and my armchair, and my garden. See, that's where I belong, that's home. That's why I came back... 'cause you don't have one, a home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can." Bilbo said honestly.

"You will absolutely see this through than?" Oin asked.

"All the way to the end." Bilbo said with a smile but his smile faded when they heard a howl several yards away. Above the exit of mountain they had just come from stood several wargs and upon them Orcs but one of them was different, he was much larger and he was white while the others were darker.

"Azog, the pale orc." Gandalf said breathlessly.

"It cannot be." Thorin said in shock.

* * *

Emith felt as if the company would never catch a break. They had only just escaped the clutches of the goblins and now she was climbing up a tree to get away from wargs and Orcs. She pulled her foot up on to a branch just in time to avoid being bitten by one of the wolf like creatures.

The warg was desperately trying to get up the tree and had Fili not pulled her up on to the next branch by her shirt she probably would have lost a leg as the branch she was on was torn to shreds. Emith wasn't taking any chances. She climbed past Fili and as far up the tree as she could go before there was nowhere else to go. She could hear the other dwarves in other trees shouting and screaming. Kili came up beside her on the branch she was on.

"Come here often?" he joked in attempt to lighten the mood.

"Yes actually, every day just after the tavern and right before my impending doom." she shot back sarcastically.

"Good to know." Kili said shaking his head as if he had genuinely learned something knew about her. They both held tightly to the branch as two wargs below violently shook the tree.

"Mind if I cut in?" Fili said lifting himself on to the highest branch with them.

"No not all. We were just about to discuss our last will and testaments." Emith said to him. Fili looked at them both strangely, he clearly didn't get that she was only joking but Kili just nodded in agreement.

"Yes, yes. I would like my skull turned into a nice soup bowl for an orc maiden." Kili added.

"Oh that is classy." Emith said nodding her head. Fili muttered something in dwarvish which one could only assume was a snarky comment. Suddenly there was a loud snap and then another and Bofur, Bilbo and Bombur came flying into Fili, Kili and Emith's tree as the one they had been in toppled into it. Then their tree started to topple too. Kili took hold of Emith's hand and then jumped out the tree just in time to land in another. They climbed up the branches as fast they could and looked for another tree to hop into, but there were no others. All thirteen dwarves, wizard, hobbit and human were sitting in a tree on the edge of a cliff with a pack of orcs and wargs below attempting to kill them.

"I never thought this is how I'd die." Ori moaned.

"Nobody is dying." Gandalf protested as he tossed down a flaming pine cone at the enemies. He immediately lit another and another and tossed one to each of them. They flung the pine cones down at the orcs and wargs setting the ground ablaze and creating a barrier between them.

However it didn't help much because the ground became unstable and the tree was uprooted and left clinging to the cliffs edge. Ori slipped from the tree but grabbed Dori's foot just in time. Emith was left hanging by both hands from a branch, in fact most the dwarves couldn't move, they were all barely hanging on. Emith looked down below her to see the longest drop she'd ever seen, if any of them fell they would surely die. She felt the strain on her arms from trying to hold on.

"Em!" Kili shouted as he reached out an arm to her.

"Grab my hand." he said but she began to cry.

"I can't, I'll fall." she sobbed.

"It's okay, don't be scared, just let one hand go and grab on to me. I promise you, I promise you will be okay. Just grab my hand." Kili said.

"I can't. I really can't." she cried. Behind her she could hear Dori shout as he slipped from his branch only to grab a hold of Gandalf's staff. Kili looked around quickly to see if there was anything else he could do.

"Okay just hold on, I'm going to pull you up." he told her carefully moving along the uprooted tree.

"Are you insane!? We're hanging off the side of a bloody cliff!" Emith shouted at him but Kili ignored her protest and made his way to the branch she was on. He reached over grabbing her by the forearm and pulling her up towards him, Emith tossed her arms around his chest and clung to him tightly. The tree made another snap and shifted more off the cliff. Kili was dropping and Emith with him.

"Damn you two!" Dwalin shouted as he caught Kili from under his arms. Things had only gotten worse. In his attempt to help her, Kili had only managed to put them in more danger, she was now flailing and dangling, desperately trying to keep her arms wrapped around Kili's chest while he was dangling desperately in Dwalin's arms. Emith was hysterical crying and not to far from her Dori and Ori were in a panic. The three of them were barely hanging on.

The dwarves were all hanging on for their lives, from the other side of the tree she could see Bombur and Fili with their arms and legs wrapped around a branch and in the distance she could just make out Thorin laying in the Jaws of a warg and tiny Bilbo tackling an Orc to the ground. Emith could feel her arms loosening around Kili and she slid ever so slightly down.

"Emith don't let go." Kili said looking down at her, he too could feel her losing her grip.

"I can't. I'm going to die, I'm going to bloody fricken die!" she cried burying her head in his chest.

"I can't hold on much longer laddie." Dawlin told Kili as his grip was loosening as well. Emith slid further down, she was now clutching at Kili's waist.

"Thank heavens I put a belt on." Kili said, he was almost sure if he hadn't Emith would be a much more awkward position.

"This isn't a time for joking!" Emith screamed through her tears, the tree snapped again and she lost her grip flying down and barely grabbing hold of Kili's boot. She began screaming, she was hanging on to Kili's boot for her life.

"DON'T LET GO!" Kili started screaming at her. Emith was too hysterical to respond she's was doing her best to hold on but the moment came and she was the first to let go, the first to fall and undoubtedly she was going to be the first to die.

* * *

Emith screamed, she was falling and nothing could stop her from falling but the ground. The world flew by along with her tears, she squeezed her eyes shut and after a few moments she wasn't falling anymore, in fact it felt like she was being carried away. Emith opened her eyes to see giant talons wrapped around her. She felt them loosen and she was falling again but this time she landed on the back of a giant feathered bird.

Emith held on tightly to the creature, in front of her she could see others, giant beautiful eagles with dwarves on their backs. They were flying through the sky, soaring on breezes and Emith carefully sat herself up. Her tears slowly stopped and the fear she felt moments before was replaced with waves of calm.

One by one the giant eagles came to high plateau and set them down. Emith rolled off the side and landed on her feet. The dwarves all ran up to Thorin who slowly awoke from unconsciousness. Gandalf helped Thorin to his feet and the moment he did Thorin gave Bilbo a hard shove.

"You! What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed! Did I not say that you would be a burden, that you would not survive in the wild and that you have no place among us?" Thorin shouted at Bilbo.

"I've never been so wrong in all my life." he than said in exasperation embracing Bilbo after a moments hug the two separated.

"Forgive me for doubting you." Thorin asked Bilbo.

"No. It's fine, I would have doubted me too." Bilbo said honestly.

"It seems the worst is behind us." Gandalf replied looking off into the distance at a tiny mountain peak.

"Erebor." Balin sighed happily.

"Shall we rest than?" Thorin asked sitting on a rock, the sun was just starting to fade on the horizon. All the dwarves began speaking at once as they sat together, except Kili who walked over to Emith who had sat herself a distance from them. Kili placed himself beside her and set his hand gently on her back. Emith stared intensely at the ground but she was trembling.

"Em," Kili said softly.

"Emith." he said again turning her face towards him, her eyes were red, she was fighting back tears.

"I'm so sorry. I tried to pull you up." he said to ease her but it only caused her to burst into tears, she began to sob hysterically, worse than before. Kili pulled her into his lap and held her, she buried her face in his shirt and cried.

"Shhh." he said as he rocked her back and forth in his arms. The others looked over at them silently.

"I tried. I-t-tried to hold on and I couldn't, I couldn't do it." she cried into his shirt. Kili held her tighter and stroked her hair.

"It's okay, I've got you now." he said trying to soothe her but she shook her head.

"I couldn't… I couldn't." she cried.

"You did good, you did very good." Kili tried to reassure her.

"I shouldn't have let go, I should've been stronger." she cried, burying her face deeper into his shirt. Dwalin came over silently and knelt beside them.

"No, I should have been stronger and pulled you both up." he said rubbing her back gently but Emith wouldn't stop crying. Kili nudged his head at Dwalin as if to say 'it's okay I got it'. Dwalin rejoined the others and they all set to busy themselves getting a fire and dinner ready while Kili sat with Emith trembling and crying in his arms.

Gandalf and the others had entirely forgotten that Emith was only a twenty-one girl. They had entirely forgotten that she had come from another world, that the only dangers she faced back home, were execution and starvation. Stone giants, goblins, wargs and orcs she had never faced such monsters before, she had never battled armies or fought for her life in the ways she had in the last few weeks. Even Bilbo seemed better prepared than her at that moment.

She had never faced death because she was always running from it and for the first time she stared it right in the face and truly almost died and they all felt incredibly guilty but none more than Kili, who kept whispering in her ear that she'd be okay, he kept cursing himself for not being able to help her up, he had promised she'd be okay and he had let her fall. The others kept their distance.

"Emithel I'm sorry, I'm so, so, so very sorry." he told her as he held her tightly, she was still crying and he really couldn't blame her.

"I promise, this time I really promise from the bottom of my heart. I won't let anything happen to you. I won't let anything or anyone hurt you." he whispered in her ear.

"I won't let you go." he said pulling her closer and kissing her forehead and they stayed like that for a long time.

When Emith finally stopped crying and Kili and her rejoined the group it was well into the middle of the night. Everyone had all fallen asleep, except Gloin who was put to keep watch. Emith laid close to the fire and she could sense Kili lay himself not to far from her like he usually did. She sat up and looked over at him.

"You okay?" Kili asked concerned. Emirg moved closer to him and lay her head on his outstretched arm like a pillow, she turned on her side to face the fire. Kili rolled on his side next to her so his chest was pressed against her back and his chin rested on her shoulder. He wrapped his free arm around her and pulled her closer and like that, with him holding her, they drifted off into sleep.


	4. First Draft: Chapters 21 to 26

**The Lost Final Chapters**

_Hello faithful readers. As promised here are the six original previously unposted chapters to the Sins Of Our Fathers_

_These were the last chapters I worked on before I had a mental nervous breakdown and felt the need_

_to rewrite the whole story. I know they probably won't bring any closure as they are unfinished and _

_I will likely never complete this version of the story because it was these particular chapters_

_which I rewrote a million times that made me want to give up entirely on writing a Hobbit_

_fanfiction. These chapters I the reason I was pulling my hair out and crying that_

_I was a crap writer so I hope you freaking enjoy them!_

* * *

Emith didn't dream that night, her head hurt too much from crying to dream. She slept in Kili's arms throughout the night, it was comforting to her, like the way she would climb into her mother and fathers bed when she was younger after nightmares of monsters.

Only this time, her mom and dad weren't holding her, it was Kili and instead of a nice warm bed, they slept on the hard ground. This time there was no tickles and laughs to scare away pretend monsters, there was only tears because monsters were very real.

Kili woke early in the morning to Fili patting his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see a pale sky with the sun just starting to rise. Around him the others were also just starting to wake up as well. Fili placed his hands to his lips as a sign to keep quite and handed Kili a folded up cloak. Kili carefully lifted Emith's head and slid his arm out from beneath it replacing it with the cloak and slowly and quietly got to his feet to stretch.

"Where do you think you are all going?" Thorin asked in a low voice as the company began to move about getting what the had left in order. They all looked at Thorin confused.

"It is dawn, we always start at dawn." Nori said rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Yes, but some of us appear to still be exhausted." Thorin noted as most of them were either yawning or just sitting unmoving in the spots they fell asleep in and seeing Emith hadn't even awoken yet.

"We rest one more day here, we all deserve another's day rest." Thorin said, everyone looked at him in a bit of shock, especially Fili and Kili.

"One more day sounds good." Gandalf said as he sat back down against a rock and pulled out his pipe. Everyone took his lead and no one protested. Bilbo simply nodded his head in agreement and fell over back on to his side and into a deep sleep.

Fili and Kili however stared a Thorin, who nudged his toward at Emith, Kili took that as an order to go back to her and he did as his uncle told him. Fili walked over to Thorin and sat beside him.

"Since when did rest become more important to you than Erebor?" Fili asked.

"Since a young girl realized that death was a real thing. I seem to have thought wrongly of certain people." Thorin said to Fili and he knew he meant Emith and Bilbo.

"We all thought she was better prepared than he was." Fili admitted.

"She isn't ready to see this journey through. Tomorrow you take the company onwards, I will be taking her back to Elrond where she will be safe." Thorin instructed Fili.

"You would put yourself and her in danger of more giants, goblins and orcs by crossing the mountains again." Gandalf said as he sat on the other side of Thorin and he knew Gandalf was right.

"We will take another path, a lower one, out of sight of anyone." Thorin said.

"And what will Kili say?" Fili asked. Thorin looked at his nephew.

"What do I care what your brother has to say?" Thorin asked back.

"Do you think Kili would leave her now? After what they've been through together?" Gandalf asked Thorin.

"He was the one who found her, who convinced us all to help her, who knew something was wrong the first time she departed us and demanded we save her from those men." Fili said hotly.

"He is the one who made sure she escaped her first encounter with the Orcs, the one who made her feel welcomed amoung us and volunteered to travel through a portal to bring her back with no garuntee he could actually do it or that she'd even want to leave." Fili added on becoming angry with his uncle.

"Sure we all worked together to make sure she got out that mountain but it was Kili who comforted her, it was him who risked his life trying to stop her from falling while you stupidily risked your life to settle a score with Azog. It was my little brother, your nephew who promised he wouldn't leave her. There is no way he will let you take her back to the Elves where he cannot protect her." Fili said with a rage, he got up and walked away from Gandalf and Thorin. Thorin sat there in silence for a moment.

"The desires of my nephew will not deter me from taking her back to Rivendell." Thorin told Gandalf.

"I do not agree with you. Kili has grown attached to her and she to him, as have I and the others. You're asking for a mutany and risk losing the only chance you have at reclaiming Erebor. Durin's day is fast approaching, if you take her back you will not make it on time." Gandalf said to Thorin. He stood and took a puff of his pipe walked over to where he originally was.

Thorin sat and contemplated. The sun rose higher into the sky as the morning settled in. He wasn't sure what he should do, he didn't want to risk a young girls life for his kingdom but he didn't want to risk losing his kingdom for this girls life. The company slept soundly through the morning hours, even Gandalf had drifted off into a light snore.

Around noon, Thorin heard soft whispers, he opened his eyes and looked up to see Kili, Fili, Ori and Bofur talking to Emith. It appeared they were telling her stories of some of their misadventures becuase every few moments they would burst into laughter and then try to shush themselves so the others would not wake.

"So here I am getting dragged by a pony across the outer regions of the Shire and these bastards just keep laughing." he heard Bofur said.

"He was flailing about like a teeny fish." Kili said throwing his arms out and mimicking how Bofur reacted.

"Oh it was terrible because his pony knocked into mine and I went flying off and the pony ran away from me." Ori said recalling the incident. They all laughed.

"So there these two are, Bofur out in front of us all with Myrtle dragging his ass over rocks and Ori running behind us shouting 'Wilma, here girl, come back to daddy!' while his pony if flying so far ahead of the company we thought we'd lost her." Fili added and they all gave a roar and shushed each other. Thorin watched them silently from a distance. He knew taking her back to the Elves would be the right thing to do but he couldn't help but notice how well shit fit in with them all. Fili had been right, she had become one of them from the moment she arrived, like she wasn't a stranger from another world, like she had always been apart of Middle-Earth. He also couldn't help but notice how his youngest nephew looked at her. Thorin decided perhaps it would be better if she stayed.

* * *

Thorin was dragging her down a long dark corridor illuminated by nothing but a red light with no source. She was pulling against him, fighting him, trying to break free but she couldn't. She was crying and shouting but no sound came out. She looked back behing her and saw Ophelia standing there with a thick black liquid pouring from her eyes like tears.

"I told you to look." Ophelia cried.

"I told you to look in his heart and you have not!" Ophelia shouted as Thorin continued to drag her down the corridor. Emith was shouting for Ophelia to help her, but no matter how hard she screamed she couldn't hear her own voice. Just Ophelia's.

"I told you! I told you to see the sickness inside him!" Ophelia screamed. Thorin became more violent, he grabbed Emith by her waist and pulled and dragged her down the narrow corridor. He was hurting her and she kicked and screamed and cried, reaching out for Ophelia.

"I cannot help you! You must help yourself! You must see the darkness and rage in the son of Thrain!" Ophelia screamed. Thorin kicked open a door and tossed Emith to the floor of a pitch black room and for the first time in her dream she saw his face, his eyes were golden yellow like a snakes. He slammed the door shut and Emith awoke instantly sitting upright on her mat. She was in a light sweat and breathing heavy, the sun was coming over the horizon.

"Are you alright?" a voice asked placing a hand on her shoulder, she looked up to see Thorin and quickly pulled herself away from his touch.

"I'm fine." she said looking down. Thorin moved past her and began nudging a few of the dwarves awake, Bilbo and Gandalf had already been up and packed. Emith breathed deeply and relaxed, looking to her side she saw Kili splayed on his back, mouth open and drooling and beside him, Fili splayed out on his stomach, mouth open, drooling and snoring. Emith leaned over and lightly shook Kili awake, he gave a large smile through half-lidded eyes, she pointed over to Fili with a smile, Kili looked over at his older brother and nodded.

He sat up, wiped the drool from his mouth and placed his hand a few inches from Fili's face. Kili looked back at Emith, waiting for her approval. She waved her hand as to say "go ahead". Kili put his face right by his brother's ear and thought for a moment than smiled to himself.

"Em put your shirt back on!" Kili shouted. Fili's head shot up and slammed into Kili's hand with a slimey 'smack'. Kili laughed hysterically, as did Bofur and Bombur. Emith punched Kili in the shoulder for using her as part of his prank and Fili punched his other shoulder for just being an ass.

"And you sir!" Emith said punching Fili in the chest.

"He said you were topless." Fili defended, she punched him again.

"Alright stop the nonsense. We've got to get moving." Thorin said.

Traveling to Erebor was taking a lot longer than any of them expected. After losing the ponies in the Trollshaws they had journied by foot across a flat land, through a canyon to Rivendell and up over and than through the Misty Moutains. From there they were carried by giant eagles to a plateau at the edge of the mountains. From there they rested for two days and were off by foot again east towards Mirkwood.

They walked for several hours before the sun began to set, they came upon the base of a large pillar like rock formation, that Emith thought looked a lot like a bear. The set up camp with what few supplies they had left; the attack by the goblins and orcs two days before had caused some members of the company to lose their packs. Emith was one of the lucky ones and she managed to hold on to all her things.

After supper they all sat around the fire laughing and shared stories. The dwarves sang songs and Bilbo would told them of the Shire and Hobbits. The dwarves spoke of their history in Middle-Earth. They spoke of the grandness of Erebor and the city of Moria. Gandalf told them stories of his adventures and the time he himself fell through a door into another world. He landed in a place called New York City with mountains built of steel and strange metal creatures flying down the roads and deep within the ground. He told them how the tiny island city held more people on it than all the kingdoms of Middle-Earth men combined, he also noted how terrible place it was.

"The nerve of those people pushing and shoving when I was only asking for directions, no curtosey at all. The ones who did stop for me didn't even speak the common tounge but stood next to me while flashing lights from rocks in my eyes! It was absolutely the worst thing I have experienced." Gandalf grumbled.

"And I was absolutely baffled by the number of frauds in that place. Every road there was a physcic and palm reader but they were all fakes. I was lucky enough to finally come across a real sorcceress, named… Oh I've forgotten her name but she worked at a quaint shop selling tea and painting of lady parts. She helped me find another portal back here to Middle-Earth. I'd never been so happy to see an Orc in my life." Gandalf said and they laughed at him.

That night when they all set off to sleep, Kili claimed his spot beside Emith like he usually did but like he did the last two days he slept much closer to her than usual. Emith typically had an 'arms length apart' policy for anyone sleeping near her but with Kili they lay shoulder to shoulder. They stayed up late into the night talking about nothing but mentioning everything, laughing and smiling and joking in whispers to keep the others from waking. Kili turned on his side and propped his head upon his hand.

"What was your parents names?" Kili asked catiously, Emith was caught off guard but after a moment of staring at him she finally spoke.

"Enid and Bal." Maggie said.

"They were wonderful parents. My mother was a medicine women and my father worked in the coal mine. They were beautiful." she added.

"You must miss them." Kili said sadly.

"Every day. You think it's get easier but it just gets harder." She said looking him in the eyes.

"How old were you, you know, when they died?" he asked with as much sensitivity as possible.

"Eight." she replied.

"You had your aunt though, so it must have been easier." Kili said. Emith shook her head and closed her eyes.

"After everything burned they took the women to the mines. The children were sent wherever there was a home available. I was sent to southern Scot near the boarder with Tattersall to live with a blacksmith. He wasn't very fond of children, he ignored me." Emith said pulling on the bottom of her shirt to distract her from her past.

"So you were alone? That's terrible." Kili said feeling bad.

"You get used to it. Learn to cook, clean and care for yourself, sew your own clothes and tend your own wounds, catch your own meals." She said giving him a weak smile but Kili looked at her with pain in his eyes.

"Someone should have been there for you. You shouldn't of had to been alone. Not at such a young age and not for so long." He said leaning in a bit closer to her.

"I can manage on my own." she breathed softly noticing the small space between them.

"You alone in Middle-Earth?" Kili asked.

"You know, I haven't thought of that." She said as it dawned on her.

"Since you don't have anywhere to go when this is all over… you could stay me… In Erebor you know, when we get it back… with Fili and I and the others. All together… all of us. As a group, not just me… alone." He fumbled turning red and pulling away from her. Emith blushed but gave a big smile.

"I'd like that, staying with you…" she said.

"All of you, you know…" she quickly added on. Kili made her so flustered.

"Yeah and we could… hang out and things… with the others of course." Kili added, he was suddenly having a hard time speaking to her.

"Okay goodnight." He said rolling over so his back was towards her. He cursed himself. Emith stared at Kili's back, she found it funny how when they were traveling and battling Orcs Kili was the most confident, lethal and protective person in the world but at night, when they spoke he turned into someone else, someone she could get used to being around.

* * *

Emith wished she could turn off her dreams or at least choose what she dreamnt of. Ever since the they left Rivendell several days ago she began having nightmares. But tonight she began having a new dream, she was under ice cold water drowning. Above her she could see a series of docks burning. From under the water she could hear the screams of hundreds of people, women shouting and children crying, men yelling and the rumble of thunder and an evil laughter.

The dream terrified her but every night it just got worse. The screams became louder, the water became colder and a mencing beast was dragging her down under the water, drowning her and pulling her down into the depths of the water. In every dream she had Thorin was there standing above the water looking down at her while she was drowned by a monster.

She didn't tell anyone of the dreams, she only distanced herself from Thorin and avoided being alone and conversing with him. On a few occassions she woke from the nightmares in a panic crying, kicking and flailing which would wake up Kili who slept next. He'd calm her down hug her tightly before telling her to lay back down and sleep.

Only the dreams were getting to her, straining her, she'd stay awake through the night in fear she'd have another. Being anywhere near Thorin began to terrify her, she grew pale and shakey and everyone began to take notice that she wasn't well.

"You should really rest." Bofur insisted holding a bowl of stew in front of her one night.

"I'm fine." she said softly to him. Bofur sat down next to her sadly.

"You haven't eaten or slept in three days." he said to her.

"Are you feeling well?" he asked placing his hand on her head to check for a fever but she was fine.

"I'm fine, I promise." she said pushing his hand away. She turned her head away from Bofur and saw Thorin staring at her intently. The feeling made her queezy. She felt like she was going insane, she had no to reason to be scared of Thorin, he had never hurt her, sure he was a bit mean at first but now he constantly reminded her and Bilbo that they were apart of the company and apart of their family. Still Thorin sent cascading fear into her and the closer they got to Erebor the more scary her dreams and Thorin became.

"Orcs!" Fili shouted as he and Kili ran up to them from a scouting mission.

"Everyone grab your things, we are leaving now!" Thorin shouted. Everyone rushed and panicked to get their things together.

"I know a place not to far from here where we will be safe. Though I must warn you our host my great us with some hostility." Gandalf said taking lead and leading the the company running. After a few short minutes Emith was exhausted, she hadn't been prepared to run.

"Come on darling." Kili said grabbing her hand to help her pick up the pace. The company ran for a bit longer until the all came to a short stop and stumbled into each other.

"That is a big bear." Ori said shaking. In front of them stood a large and menicing bear that probably could have killed them all in less than five minutes, Bifur cursed as the Orcs drew closer and the bear suddenly switched his attention from the them to the Orcs.

"Let's go!" Gandalf said seizing the opportunity. The company ran behind them past some wooden fencing and into a house with the bearing charging after them. The bear smashed head first into the door and everyone screamed as they tried to force the door close and lock it so the bear couldn't get in. After a good struggle they had finally managed with great sighs of relief. They were all panting heavily and tossed themselves on the ground. Emith sat against a wall.

"I think we all could use some food." Gandalf said making his way through the house and going through the pantry.

"I think we all could all use a vacation." she said exhaustedly and a few of the others nodded in agreement. Balin noticed she was much more exhausted than the others.

"Why don't you take a nap dear. We'll wake you when supper is ready." Balin said sweetly. Emith shook her head to say no but Kili had already placed himself beside her and began pulling her to rest against his chest as he leaned against the wall. She would have protested but she was too drained to try putting up a fight and Kili was warm and soft.

She laid against him with her head pressed against his chest and Nori covered her with his cloak like a blanket. Her eyes were heavy but slid shut when her body relaxed, she drifted off into sleep easier than ever before.

"I know your smell. I have waited ssssssso long for you child of Bal. I'm going to eat you up!" a meancing, deep and loud voice roared.

Emith found herself in a dream. She layed with her back against the cold hard floor in pitch blackness. She heard what sounded like the locking of the door and realized she was in the dream where Thorin had dragged her down the corridor and tossed her in a dark room. Emith sat up but she couldn't see anything but heard the sounds of her own heavy breathing.

"I've been waiting for you, for my revenge, for my vengence." the voice belowed. Emith stood slowly in the dark. The ground began to shake with loud thumping, foot steps. Emith began to panic, she couldn't see where the beast was coming from, she couldn't even see her own hands.

"Who are you!?" she shouted. From in the darkness she saw two giant golden snake eyes like the ones Thorin had in her other dream.

"I am death!" it roared.

"Em, are you okay?" Kili said waking her up with a concerning shake. Only an hour had passed since she'd closed her eyes but she felt like crap and she felt cold, she was breathing heavily and could barely keep her eyes open.

"She's got a fever." Dori said putting down the bowl of food he had served her and placing his hand on her head. He quickly pulled his hand away.

"A high fever at that." He said handing her water but she was too weak to grab it. Thorin took the water from Dori and pushed Emith's head back with his hand and forcing her mouth open to give her water. The gesture caused her to flinch and she smacked Thorin's hand away from her. Her tried again to give her water but she kept pushing him away.

"Stop being so damn stubborn!" Thorin shouted at her grabbing both her hands violently.

"Don't touch much!" Emith shouted back pulling her hands from Thorin and attempting to stand up, the movement made her very light headed and she fell over into Kili who helped her sit back down. Thorin angrily tossed the canteen at her and walked away. Emith felt very ill, she was breathing even harder, feeling even weaker and her body ached. She shivered from being cold and began to cry.

"She's burning up." Kili said laying her down. Balin knelt beside her a placed a wet rag on her head.

"I knew she was getting sick." Bofur sad shaking his head, he felt incredibly guilty.

"It's alright laddie." Dawlin said. "As long as it wasn't the three meat soup you made last night that made her sick because than we'll all be in trouble."

"Have some water." Balin said, Kili helped her sit up and drank from the canteen.

"Get some rest." Gandalf said as he passed her. "You'll need all the strength you can muster tomorrow. That goes for the rest of you as well." he said. Everyone searched for a comfortable spot on the floor of the house. Dori had found a soft pile of hay in the corner of the house and covered it with the mat and cloak from Emith's pack instructing Fili and Kili to move her over to it. Together the brothers helped a very weak and weary Emith over to the corner and rested her gently on the make-shift bed. Ori placed her pack under her head like a pillow and Kili sat a short distance away to keep an eye on her.

The house grew quite quickly as everyone fell asleep until all Emith could hear were her shallow breaths and their snores. She cried silently to herself, she felt like she was dying, her skin felt like fire but she was freezing cold, she tossed and turned her aching body in attempts to ease the pain. In the darkness she could make out Kili and reached out a sore arm towards him with a light touch. She heard him wake.

"Emi what's wrong?" he whispered in a groggy voice but she could barely speak so she pulled his arm towards her. Kili moved closer to her till he was by her side.

"What do you need?" Kili asked pulling his cloak over her and stroking her sweat soaked red curls. She turned on her side shakily and pulled his arm around her tightly. Kili understood and laid on his side next to her with his chest pressed against her back. He breathed deeply and held her tightly as she shook from the cold. She cried softly from the torture the fever was giving her.

"Shh… you'll be fine." Kili whispered in her ear and kissing her shoulder. She turned over sat up slightly to face him.

"I think I'm dying." she cried in a whisper.

"You're not dying. You'll be better by morning." he said pulling her back down and placing her head against his chest. He pulled the cloak over them both. She slid one arm underneath and lay the other on his stomach, he brought his hand to hers and held it even though it was clamy from the fever.

"Kili…" she whispered.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I don't want to be on my own anymore." she cried softly into his shirt.

"I'm here. I'll take care of you." he said placing his hand on her head and stroking her hair.

Her skin burned against Kili's, the heat radiated off her body and through her clothes. She felt like a furnace and his shirt became damp from the sweat that covered her head. He held her closely though and continued to run his fingers through her damp hair, even though it wasn't going to help much but the gesture had mad her feel oddly better. She stopped shaking and kept her head pressed against his chest as it would rise and fall with his breathing.

"Please don't leave me." she mummbled as she began drifting back into sleep.

"I wouldn't dare." he said kissing the top of her head.

* * *

"Daddy sing me a song before you leave."

"A song? What kind of song?"

"A lullaby."

"I don't think I know any lullabies."

"Pleeeessase just one."

"Well perhaps I know just one. Snuggle in darling"

"Are you ready for bed sweetheart?"

"Momma, daddy is going to sing me a lullaby."

"A lullaby? I thought that was my job."

"But daddy never has a turn."

"Okay, we will let daddy have a turn."

"You ready Emithel?"

"I'm ready."

" Lay down, my dear, and in your ear, to help you close your eyes. I'll sing kumathel, a slumber song, thakâlh lullaby. There's darkness down the mines my darling. Darkness, dust and damp. But we must have heat and light and fire and for our lamps. Slumber down my darling and in your ear, while stars light up the sky. I'll sing kumathel, a slumber song, thakâlh lullaby. I'll sing a song, a slumber song, a miner's lullaby ."

"Goodnight mommy, goodnight daddy."

"Sleep soundly my child."

" I'll sing a song, a slumber song, a miner's lullaby ."

" I'll sing a song, a slumber song, a miner's lullaby ." Emith awoke slowly from her sleep to find that Kili was no longer beside her, instead she found Bofur sitting beside her humming lowly to himself.

" I'll sing a song, a slumber song, a miner's lullaby ." Bofur sang to himself. She sat upright and looked at him, he continued to hum the melody.

"I know that song." She said to him in almost a whisper.

"Oh do you?" He asked with a curious face. " There is darkness down the mines my darling… " He began.

" Darkness, dust and damp. But we must have heat and light and fire and for our lamps ." she finished. Bofur gave her a curious smile.

"How do you know that song?" He asked.

"My dad used to sing it to me. How do you know it?" She said, Bofur stared intently at her.

"It's a old dwarvish lullaby from the First Age. Story goes that a prince one of the Seven Father Dwarves, sang it to the children of the kingdom when he lead their fathers off the mines. It was his promise to the children he would bring their father's home." Bofur explained.

"My dad used to sing on the nights he'd go to the mines." Emith said softly. Bofur leaned in closely to her and stared straight into her eyes almost as if he was looking for something.

"Would you like to know how the story ends?" Bofur asked, his closeness made her uncomfortable but for some reason their shared knowledge of the song canceled out any awkwardness. She nodded yes.

"The prince was the son Bighâl, the first of the Firebeards, secound eldest of the Seven Father Dwarves. At the end of the First Age there was the War of Wrath, many battles were fought and Bighâl's son led the Firebeard's into glorious battle, together with another dwarf clan they slayed the first dragons and many evils." Bofur explained, his eyes fixed on Emith's and hers on his.

"However the war had begun to rip apart the world and desprate to save the heir to his throne Bighâl sought the help of the Maiar, spirits sent to aid the world. No Maiar would help him though except one. The Maiar led the dwarf prince deep into the mines, deep into heart of the mountains." Bofur continued.

"What happened to the prince?" Emith asked captivated.

"The First Age ended with the marring of the world, half the land slipped beneath the sea, but King Bighâl and several members of his clan survived, they fled deep into the mountains where the Maiar had taken his son to search for him and build a new kingdom, but the prince was never seen again. He vanished in the mines and for the rest of Bighâl's life he searched for his son. At night Bighâl could be heard walking through the mines singing the lullaby the prince used to sing for the kingdoms children. Bighâl was singing for his son to come home, to keep his promise and return. For centuries the lullaby has been sung, it passed from parent to child, clan to clan, all across the dwarf strongholds of Middle-Earth. It would ring through the mines like a chilling wind. That is why we call them the 'Blue Mountains' because the sorrow was never forgotten." Bofur finished.

Emith and Bofur stared at each other intensly. Bofur was searching her eyes for something and it was unsettling to her but she didn't know what to do other than to stare back and than it was if Bofur had found it. He gave a small laugh of astonishment and jumped up to his feet and held his hand out to Emith.

"Well m'lady I do believe breakfast is being served. Care to join me?" Bofur said cheerfully to her. She grabbed his hand and he pulled her up on her feet. She followed behind him to a dining area where all the dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf were sitting around a wooden table. Emith laughed at how everyone's feet barely touched the floor and how the plates, spoons, forks, knives and cups were just a tad bit to large for them.

Kili smiled and attempted to make space for her at the table next to him. For some reason on his first attempt he tried pushing Bombur over but the round dwarf wouldn't budge so Kili turned to his left and with a simple 'pardon' lifted Bilbo in his seat and moved the hobbit over clearing a space for Emith to pull up a chair.

"You dwarves have the most stunning manners." Bilbo said sarcastically.

"Dwarves have no manners." A deep voice said. Emith eyes widened as she looked up to see a very tall man, perhaps a few inches taller than Gandalf who was just about six feet tall.

"Emithel, meet our host Beorn." Gandalf said introducing the giant man.

"I hope you are feeling better from last night, they said you were ill." Beorn said polietly to her.

"Um yes, I feel much better. Thank you." She replied kindly. Boern set a plate down in front of her piled high with eggs and bacon, sausage and ham.

"The glory of butchered pigs." Oin smiled.

"I've never eaten pig." She said looking strangely the meats. Everyone dropped their forks and stared at her.

"WHAT!?" Oin shouted.

"We didn't have pigs in my country. It was too cold." She explained.

"Blaphemy! You've never had bacon? You must eat it now!" Oin roared waiting for her to take her first bite. In fact all the dwarves and Bilbo had moved their attention to her and all stared quietly, like there lives were depending on this moment.

"Which one is the bacon?" Emith asked, Kili jabbed a thin wavy scrap of meat with his fork and held it up to her. She took the fork from him and stared at the company who were all staring back.

"That is really creepy, do you have to st…"

"Eat the bloody bacon!" Oin roared slamming his fist on the table, cutting her off and making her jump that she shoved the bacon slice in her mouth out of fear Oin would go on a rampage. The room grew very quite as she chewed and the bacon was like heaven. It was salty, fatty, crunchy but chewy, it was greasy and savoury and probably the best thing she'd ever eaten.

"Sooooo…..?" Oin asked desperate for an answer.

"Is there more?" Emith asked, Oin cracked a smile that would cause one to think it had started raining gold and the dwarves gave a joyous roar and Bilbo threw his fist in the hair with delight. Beorn looked at Gandalf with a confused and Gandalf merely shrugged and shook his head.

* * *

Beorn was a gracious host although not to fond of the dwarves, he was quite please with Bilbo once the tiny hobbit offered to help him clean up after breakfast. Emith also offered to help but Beorn refused saying that if she had been indeed been as ill as the others said that she should rest for the journey ahead.

Gandalf imersied himself into a deep conversation with Beorn, mostly whispers and at one point they left to talk privately in another room while Bilbo tidied the kitchen. The dwarves sat bored in the space at the front of the home where they slept. Bofur was tossing food into Bombur's mouth like a game of catch while Thorin and Balin spoke to each other in Khuzdul, the dwarf language.

The rest of them went about doing whatever they wanted. Fili, Kili, Emith and Ori crowded around a sleeping Dwalin. Fili took a piece of hay and lightly tickled the underside of Dwalin's nose. Dwalin scrunched his face but kept on sleeping. Fili did it again and Dwalin scrunched his face again.

"Oh we should really stop. If he wakes up, he'll be be so angry." Ori said but when Fili did it again Ori gave a little laugh. They continued to bother a very bald and sleepy Dwalin.

On the other side of the room Bofur insterted himself into Thorin and Balin's conversation. Emith could only slightly hear them but couldn't understand them. When she turned around to see what they were doing she found herself being stared at. Balin gave her a look of happy disbelief, Bofur just smiled, Bombur, Bofur, Dori, Nori, Oin and Gloin who were listening in stared at her curiously and Thorin seemed rather skeptical.

The fact they were all staring at her made her uncomfortable so she turned away from them and back to Dwalin who Fili was still taunting with a straw of hay. Bilbo had come to sit with them just as Fili was getting ready to do it again when Dwalin opened his eyes and with a quick movement punched the blonde dwarf square in the jaw. Kili and Ori burst into laughter and Emith quickly grabbed hold of Fili to keep him from falling over. Bilbo just sat and shook his head. Gandalf and Beorn reappeared from the other room.

"How much longer before we leave?" Thorin asked Gandalf as everyone turned to look at the wizard.

"You stay one more night." Beorn said. "There are several orcs hiding nearby waiting for you to leave. I shall deal with them tonight." he added.

"And how do you plan on taking on orcs?" Gloin asked.

"Beorn is a skin-changer. He is very capable of taking care of orcs." Gandalf said defensively. "Now I am sorry to say but I must depart with you all here."

"Where are you going?" Bilbo asked.

"There is an urgent matter I must attend to. You will have to travel into Mirkwood alone, follow Beorn's instructions I will meet back with you at the base of the Lonely Mountain." Gandalf said. Thorin looked angry as the gray wizard left the cottage.

When it was time for supper the company crammed around Beorn's table. As they ate Beorn spoke to them of the dangers of Mirkwood. He told them that the Old Forest Road had become to dangerous to travel on so they would have to head north to the Elf Path. Beorn warned that they must not be seen by the Elves of Mirkwood who were very distrustful of dwarves. They were told to stick to the path, that straying from it would only cause them to go mad and that at all cost when it came to crossing the Enchanted River they should not drink or bathe in it or they would fall into a deep sleep.

"Well that sounds plesant." Dori chimmed. When supper was over the company settled into the front room and Beorn left to take care of the orcs.

"Does he really turn into a bear?" Emith asked curiously.

"There are many races in this world you are not familiar with, perhaps it stay that way." Thorin said.

"Excuse me? I entered this world knowing of hobbits, dwarves, wizards and men. Nobody told me much else and next thing I know there are trolls and I'm being chased by orcs and wargs, under the protection elves, being carried off by goblins, flown on the backs of giant eagles and am now sitting in the home of a man who turns into a bear." Emith said sharply.

"I think I have a right to know what else is out in this world before I continue on this journey with you." she added.

"If you think you can handle it." Thorin said.

"I can." she shot.

"Maiar, Wizards, Dwarves, Elves, Men, Hobbits, Skin-Changers, Eagles, Ents, Giants, Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Balrogs, Wargs, Dragons, Vampires, Werewolves, Giant Spiders, Lintips, Mewlips, Ogre, Gongs… do you want me to go on?" Thorin said. Emith stared at him a bit in shock.

"What the bloody hell is an Ent? Did you make half those up?" she asked a bit angry. Thorin shook his head in annoyance at her.

"They are all very real." Balin said to her.

"Giant spiders… now when you say 'giant' do you mean… like the eagles?" she asked a bit queezy.

"Yes." Fili said.

"Right, spiders that can eat my face. Wonderful." She said.

"So what is an Ent?" she asked.

"Giant talking trees." Dori said.

"Oh yes that is normal." She said sarcastically.

"Werewolves?" she asked.

"Wolves inhabited by evil spirits." Nori told.

"Mewlips and Gongs?" she asked next.

"A bit like trolls and orcs." Bilbo said.

"Ogre?" she asked.

"Nasty attitudes, bit taller than trolls." Dwalin said.

"Vampires?" she asked.

"Giant bat like things." Gloin explained.

"Balrogs?" she asked.

"Corrupt Maiar." Ori said a bit scared.

"And what are Maiar?" she asked a bit afraid.

"Peaceful spirits." Oin smiled.

"Oh that is good." she said with a genuine smile. "And dragons?" she asked. The company grew silent.

"You said a dragon attacked your home but I do not know what it is." she said catiously.

"Imagine monsterous serpeants with four legs and wings that breathes a fire as blazing as the sun and eyes as yellow as gold." Balin said. Emith's mouth dropped open as she remembered her dream of same yellow eyes and she gave a scoff.

"And you plan on reclaiming Erebor from such a beast?" she said angrily.

"The beast hasn't been seen in more than 60 years." Thorin explained.

"Just because you haven't haven't seen something in over sixty years doesn't mean it isn't alive." She shouted.

"And what would you know of that?" Thorin roared.

"I was gone from my world for fifty years! Am I dead?" She shot at him.

"We are trying to reclaim our home, how is that any different from what you have done!?" Thorin shot back.

"My people fought against one man! Not a fire breathing monster! You'll all burn!" she shouted.

"Than we shall burn together!" Thorin shouted back.

"You do not have to join us. You are under no contract like the rest of us, you can leave when you want." Thorin added.

"You're all under contracts?" she asked in disbelief, the company was very quite but they all nodded including Bilbo.

"This journey was never a concern of yours. You can leave if that is what you wish." Thorin added walking away from her.

"You're all bloody nuts." she said looking around at the dwarves and storming into another room. She tossed herself into one of the seats at the kitchen table. Her head was reeling, the giant golden eyes she'd seen in her dream were haunting her along with the burning docks and screams of children. She rubbed her fingers against her temples and thought.

"What insanity have I fallen into?" she said to herself.

"Are you going to leave?" Fili asked. Emith looked up to the doorway to see the young blond dwarf standing there looking at her.

"I don't know. I wasn't ready for this." she said frustrated. Fili took a seat next to her.

"I came into this world by mistake and I thought I could adapt and make it my home. This world is full of monsters, the only monsters I've ever known are the ones who look like me." She said to him seeking some kind of consolation.

"Perhaps my uncle is right, maybe it is best we part ways." Fili said to her.

"And where will I go? I don't know these lands or it's people. I just thought that this journey would be…"

"Easy?" Fili finished her sentence. Emith had tears in her eyes.

"You thought we'd march into Erebor it'd all be good and dandy and you'd stay there with us, with my brother?" Fili asked. Emith blushed a bit as tears fell slowly.

"You heard that?" she asked.

"He's my brother, he told me. Do you realize how important you are to the company?" Fili said smiling.

"I'm nothing." Emith said shaking her head.

"In the first few days we knew you, you killed three men fearlessly. You faced stone giants and orcs, you insulted the goblin king. You this tiny little girl, have become our hero. Such fierceness, such a warriors heart. You sparked a revolution in your world, gave your people courage to take back their home and you still came back to help us. Sure you didn't know it involved a possible live dragon but you still came back blindly because you believe in us like we believe in you." Fili said with a big smile.

"Thorin might not believe you are not one of us, but you are more dwarf than any man we have ever met. You're right height too." He teased. Emith smiled at him, they never stopped teasing her about her height.

"Besides, my brother will be heartbroken if you leave." Fili added.

"And why is that?" She asked biting her lip and blushing. Fili stood up from the table and looked down on her.

"You know why." Fili said leaving to rejoin the others. Emith smiled to herself and made up her mind.

* * *

"I want a contract." Emith said walking up to Thorin. He looked at her like she was insane.

"You want a contract?" Thorin asked unsure if he had heard her correctly.

"Yes. I've come this far with you, why should I leave now?" She said. Thorin looked at her with a stern face.

"Balin, draw up a contract." Thorin said to the old dwarf. Balin pulled parchment from his pack and set to writing.

"It's just the usual; summary of out-of-pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, so forth. Cash on delivery, up to and not exceeding one-fifthteenth of the total profit, if any. Present company shall not be liable for injuries including but not limited to laceration, evisceration, incineration and so forth." Balin said as he wrote.

"Sounds lovely." She said as he continued writing. For more than two hours they went over the contract, reviewing every term and condition. When it was all settled Thorin signed off and handed the quill to Emith.

"Are you really going to sign it?" Bilbo asked from over her shoulder. She looked back to see the dwarves hovering over her.

"I am very much am." she said carefully signing her name on the parchment. Balin took the quill from her and signed as well, looking up at her with a smile.

"Welcome, officially, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield." Balin said. Emith began feeling a bit queezy, she knew she was better off leaving the company but she couldn't help but feel that her dreams had been trying to tell her something. They were all in danger, she felt it in her bones and she felt Thorin was right, they were all going to burn together. Emith despite the feelings of fear building inside her


End file.
